Bergamot tea, yellow apple, peach, orange oil, tangerine, hazelnut, salted apricot and black pepper with freshly harvested honeycomb. The aromas come rich and heady from this wine made from the Rukatac grape – also called Marestina – on the Dalmatian Coast’s Peljesac Peninsula. Orange wines may still feel new and trendy to us, but in Croatia, and certainly in Niko Bura’s cellars, this is the way it has always been done. Seven days on the skins help these wines soak up all the fruits and spices and structure available in the grape, and in this part of Europe, winemakers don’t work with shy and delicate grapes, they’re looking for intensity to stand up to the seafood cornucopia of the Adriatic sea, filled with octopus, shellfish, and rich, fatty swimming fish; things you’ll be hungry for by the time the Bura Rukatac hits your palate with orange peel, roasted pear, candied ginger, and talc-like tannins with vivid acidity that starts the mouth watering. This wine is handmade from the vineyard to the cellar, with no irrigation, no added yeast, and no oak. If you like rough hewn wines with maddening complexity and compelling soul, this is a must-try.