When driving from East to West on Korčula, it’s quite easy to nearly miss Čara. A small, pleasant village of less than 600 people in the middle of the island, most don’t realize that if you make a turn to the South about halfway through it, you’ll pass through vineyards and fields until you come to the main facilities of the Pošip Čara winery.
Originally a Yugoslavian collective that started in 1983, this is the heavy hitter on the island when it comes to Pošip. Once privatized, they were part of the Dalmacijavino conglomerate until splitting off in 2002 to work on their own. They have 90% of their production focused purely on Pošip, pumping out about 300,000 bottles of it a year. All of that is aged in stainless steel with a mere 200 liters hitting the barrique for a touch of oak.
Their Pošip is The Standard when it comes to the de facto example of this grape for Korčula. One can compare pretty much any other Pošip on the island to it and while there are some that may be just a touch tastier, almost none of them are as consistent. It has a rather sweet nose that loves to breath a good deal before drinking. Having it out for around an hour will speak well to getting the wine to open up. The wine has generally nice fruit tones, but initially can have a sharp finish to it like a blunt Sauvignon Blanc that will go away and mellow a great deal once it gets all the air it wants. It’s great with pršut, bread, and a piece of cheese from the island. It’s what the 10 employees in the company have for lunch everyday and you can understand why: it’s delicious.
