Ahearne Vino Rosina 2017

With a career in wine spanning over 25 years, Londoner, Jo Ahearne Master of Wine has worked with iconic wineries and retail environments around the globe. She entered the wine trade in the early 1990s with Oddbins in Central London. And after two years went to Australia to work a vintage for Charles Melton, with his iconic Nine Popes and Rose of Virginia wines in the Barossa Valley. She passed her Master of Wine qualification in 2008. The Master of Wine qualification is notoriously difficult – only 396 people have the right to use the lauded letters M and W after their name. Ahearne now makes her own wine, Ahearne Vino, in Hvar, Croatia. Jo produces four wines – a rosé, Rosina, two whites (Pošip and a maceration wine, Wild Skins) and a barrique-aged Plavac Mali, South Side. Darnekuša is a rare Croatian variety only grown on the island of Hvar. It is nearly extinct with only 1.5 hectares of vineyards left on the island. The vineyards are some of the highest in Dalmatia, sitting at a height of 550m and are positioned on mainly red soils on a plateau at the very top of the island. Thus, benefiting from both cooling elevation and sea breezes from both sides of the mountains to retain acidity and freshness.