The longest island in Croatia, Hvar, features dynamic wine-growing landscapes around its central mountain ridge: in the north, the slopes descend into hills, and in the south to cliffs, before descending sharply into the sea. Today, however, the bird’s eye views of Hvar remind of a labyrinth, thanks to the centuries-long, persistent efforts of the islanders to expand arable land by terraces and mounds, many of these actually turned into vineyards. Hvar is blessed by the largest number of sun hours in the Adriatic, so it goes without saying that Dalmatia’s own, late-harvest, warmth-loving Plavac mali grape, enjoys a bit of a personal paradise here. Between Hvar’s steep south, hilly north, to sandy terrains and really old vines, this is the island where Plavac mali shows all its faces, and their utmost beautiful tastes.

All lined up along the picturesque bay of Kastela, this continuous streak of seven villages, called Kastela, has really made the best of each of the different times it existed in. Inhabited since the prehistoric times, Kastela were once a Greek port, then a transit area for Roman veterans and place of leisure for Roman patricians, then a summer residence for Croatian kings, and as of recently, one of Croatian’s Game of Thrones sets! But it is actually during the Turkish invasions that they got their current form – and name – 7 forts, each as a centrepiece of one Kastela village! With a population of almost 40,000 people, and a convenient location between Split and Trogir, Kastela are at the moment a piece of heaven for sun and sea lovers, steadily growing towards becoming the Zinfandel lover’s homeport.