Feeling Posh with Saints Hills

September 25, 2024ByAndrea Lemieux 0 Comments 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

I get very little Croatian wine where I am but have enjoyed (as far as I recall!) every one that I’ve got my hands on. The Saints Hills St Ante Posh was certainly one to enjoy!

Owner Ernest Tolj established his Saints Hills winery, as he says, ” but a stone’s throw away from Dubrovnik, and two from Diocletian’s Palace in Split and Vespasian’s Amphitheater in Pula.” A romantic description to be sure. But for clarity’s sake…the Sv* Ante vineyards in Istria in the west, and the St Lucia vineyards in Dingač and St Roko in Komarna, both at the base of the Pelješac peninsula. The vineyards are names, not necessarily for saints, but after three of his children. It’s the first vineyard that concerns the post today though.

In the most western part of Croatia is Istria with Slovenia to the north and surrounded on the other three sides by the Adriatic Sea. Saints Hills Sv Ante vineyards sit in the village Radovani, on the highest peak of south-west Istria in red and limestone soils. Here Saints Hills grows Pošip. While most common to Korčula, Pošip’s popularity has boomed and plantings exist in numerous locations around the country. The grapes are thin-skinned and require careful canopy management to protect them from sunburn. Humidity can also cause problems in the vineyards.

Saints Hills Sv Ante Posh, 2019

Saints Hills ferments its Posh Pošip in large concrete egg-shaped tanks. The wine ages in the same kind of tanks for a year before being bottled. While I belive Pošip usually gives a pale to medium lemon color, I only opened this, the 2019, at the beginning of 2024 so it had some aging time which gave the wine a deeper tint.

The nose swirled with aromas of citrus, apple, almond blossom, and sea. Sipping revealed a medium-bodied with with moderate acidity and alcohol (13%) and the entirety of an apple orchard. Apples and apple blossoms wrapped in the richness of marzipan.

It’s been quite a lot of years since I was last in Croatia. Wine like this just remind me that I need to make more of an effort to go back!

*Sv is the common abbreviation for ‘saint’ which, in Croatian would be svetac.