Veralda Malvazija Prestige, Buje, Istria, Croatia 2015 (£13.50, Croatian Fine Wines) Since Croatia became the last European country to join the EU in 2013, the country’s wines have been a little easier to find in what will be the first country to leave. But they’re still not as widely distributed as I think they deserve to be. Certainly, there’s something really quite distinctive and special about malvazija istrana, an aromatic grape variety that flourishes on the Istrian peninsula, where it’s capable of making dry white wines that mix fruity fleshiness with a sea-breezy coastal freshness. A recent standout, which I tasted blind alongside a range of equally excellent Greek dry whites, Veralda’s example has a mouthwatering tension between mouthfilling tropical fruitiness, olive oiliness, tingling lemon and minerals that would be superb with meaty white fish with herby accompaniments.

Vina Laguna Pinot Grigio, Istria, Croatia 2015 (from £9.95, Lea & Sandeman) Another Istrian producer with a flair for malvazija is Kozlovic, a family-run firm whose Malvazija 2015 (from £12.60, Field and Fawcett; Corking Wines) has a delightful fresh apricot scent and that characteristic Istrian citrussy breeziness. Like many producers on the peninsula, Kozlovic also make a searing red-plum tangy red from the local teran grape that, chilled down, has the same tomato pasta-matching ability of many north Italian reds (Kozlovic Teran 2015; £12.93, Corking Wines) – a capability shared by the great-value Vina Laguna Terra Rossa 2015 (£7.50, The Wine Society), where teran is blended with merlot and another local variety, borgonja. And Istria’s strong Italian influence is also present in another Laguna wine, a beautifully pure, fluent easy-drinking pinot grigio.

Mateo Vicelic Plavac Mali, Pelješac Peninsula, Croatia 2013 (£17.95, Berry Bros & Rudd) Further south, in Dalmatia and on the islands of the Dalmatian coast, red wines with a little more body and heft come into play with varieties such as crjenak kastelanski (better known as the plumply berry-fruited all-American favourite zinfandel) and its relative, plavac mali, which is responsible for most of the best Croatian reds I’ve tried. Plavac mali is particularly good on the fashionable island of Hvar, the Adriatic’s answer to Ibiza, and on the Pelješac Peninsula, where the wines tend, like zinfandel, to be big, ripe, powerful in alcohol. Of those available in the UK, one name to look out for is Matteo Vicelic: his straight Plavac Mali shows a lighter juicy succulence not a million miles away from good Italian montepulciano; his Dingač 2013 (£26.50, Berry Bros & Rudd) is sweetly, densely packed and deeply satisfying 2013 (£34.40, Berry Bros & Rudd) is sweetly, densely packed and deeply satisfying.

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• This article was amended on 9 May 2017 to correct the price of the Mateo Vicelic Plavac Mali.