Vinas Mora 'Barbba' Croatia Red 2022

Vinas Mora is a project based in Primošten, a stunning part of coastal Croatia protected by UNESCO. Figures like Diocletian used to beat a path to this area to relax, eat, and drink well and escape the 9-5 grind of being a Roman Emperor. The project is run by Kreso Petrekovic, a former NY wine importer and sommelier who comes from a Croatian winemaking family—at least in the sense that the family made wine for their own consumption, like many in this region. Vinas Mora took over the neglected local co-op, giving local farmers a much-needed place to continue selling their fruit. Now it is one of the few natural wine projects in the country, and focuses on taking advantage of the incredible local vineyards while preserving the local Babić grape as well as other autochthonous varieties.

'Barbba' is their fresh, gulpable red, made from Debit, Marastina, Plavina, and Lasin, planted on limestone and dolomite. Kreso wanted to make a wine his friends would want to drink, and as he has lots of friends in the natural wine world in Brooklyn, I am squarely in his target audience. No shocker here to discover I find this wine to be insanely delicious. Light and great with a chill, it has notes of strawberry fruit leather, violets, steeped orange peel, and iced tea. It's a gateway to discovering the enormous untapped winemaking potential of Croatia. Jonathan Kemp