Hvar Wines for Christmas: Caric Jubo'v and Plavac Ploski

One of the nice realities of island living on Hvar is the informal nature of many business transactions and relationships.

It is Christmas Eve and I have still not sorted the wine. A Facebook message to one of my favourite local growers, Caric Wines in Svirce, is met with an invitation to drop by and collect from the family home in Svirce that afternoon.

I like Svirce, one of the hilltop villages which form the spine of central Hvar. Most visitors pass through on their way to or from Vrisnik, and there is no reason to explore the village up the hill unless you are curious or in the know.

It is a delightful mix of tiny squares, quaint old houses and lovely views over Jelsa and the Adriatic beyond. Very much a living village, it boasts two restaurants, a village shop, and two major wine producers - the Svirce Cooperative and Vina Caric.

I headed for the latter, keen to get my hands on a few bottles of their excellent Ploski Barrique 2007 for Christmas Day, with my wife telling me not to return without some of their Jubo'v, which I was assured was an excellent table wine.

Having negotiated the warren of streets, I was met by Ivana, who invited me into her home, where I enjoyed a pleasant glass or two of their young wine with her and her husband. The bad news was that the Jubo'v was sold out - an order from America, the latest in a growing trend of Hvar wine exports to North America - had seen to that.

Fearing the wrath of a disappointed wife, I pleased for a rogue bottle somewhere in their storage. Ivo disappeared and came back ten minutes later with not one, but three bottles of Jubo'v, but those really were the last available bottles.

As anywhere in the world, there are good and average wines on Hvar, and there are some really excellent wines such as the Juba'v (SO much more than its billing as a 'table wine') and the outstanding oak-aged Plovac Ploski 2007 barrique.

Both are made from the noble Plavac Mali grape, an ancestor of the better known Zinfandel, and I encourage you to seek them out on your next trip to Hvar. They can be most easily purchased at the in Hvar Town.