Istria is the top of the Adriatic and the closest part of Croatia to Italy — Venice is a few hours across the water. ACI Marina Rovinj sits below one of the prettiest old towns on the sea, ACI Marina Pula lies under a Roman amphitheatre that is still standing nearly intact, and ACI Opatija at Ičići serves the old Habsburg resort coast in the Kvarner gulf.

This is the entry point for a great many Croatian seasons. Yachts crossing from Venice, Trieste or Ravenna make landfall here, and a cellar loaded in Istria carries a boat a long way down a coast where the supply gets thinner as you go south. We would rather size a delivery for the run than for the week, and we will say so.

Orders travel from our French cellar on EU logistics — no customs frontier, duties and paperwork handled — typically two to three working days from confirmation. Istria is also the one part of Croatia with genuinely good road links to the rest of Europe, which makes it the simplest place in the country to land a large delivery cleanly.

Istria is the best food and wine region in Croatia by some distance and guests notice. Malvazija Istarska makes whites of real quality, Teran is the distinctive local red, the orange wines from this border country have an international following, and the white truffles from the Motovun forest are the equal of Alba’s. It is a coast where the local list is the interesting list.