Babic 2018 (Zlatan Otok)

Cellar for up to 7 years. No need to decant before serving. When winemaker Zlatan Plenkovic founded his winery in 1985 he was following in the footsteps of his ancestors who have been making wine for generations. Based on the idyllic southern island of Hvar, Zlatan today owns a series of prime hillside plots here and makes wine from plots owned by the family in Sibenik on the Croatian mainland. This sensational Babic is crafted with top quality grapes from Sibenik where the variety thrives thanks to the sunny summers, poor soils, and dry conditions. Even in hot years the Babic grape is able to retain plenty of acidity and aromatic character which provides perfect balance to the rich dark fruit character and firm structure. Poor soils like those found in Sibenik are vital to crafting high quality Babic since they keep the variety’s tendency to high yields in check. To preserve the distinctive personality of the grape variety, Zlatan ages the young wine in large Slavonian oak barrels which allows maturation without giving too much oak flavour to the finished wine. The result is a harmonious red wine with plenty of intense dark berry and cherry notes along with a smooth texture and well-developed tannins which will help the wine to age gracefully.