Wines of Dubrovnik

Wine has been always important in Dubrovnik, the Republic had a myriad of laws and regulations regarding wine going back a full millennium and than some. At first, Dubrovnik government was trying to restrict wine production since agricultural land was scarce and grain for feeding the population was seen as far more important. As the trade developed and Dubrovnik became prosperous, grain was purchased in increasing quantities so the land was freed for production of Dubrovnik's favourite liquid. Wines of Dubrovnik were appreciated across the Mediterranean and slowly become a prominent export and source of income for the tiny Republic.

During the Socialist Yugoslavia time quality was replaced with quantity as the communist government insisted on the production of large quantities of wine for export to other communist countries. Those days are long gone and since Croatian independence in the 90ties a sort of wine Renaissance occurred and top quality wines came back. Top wine production locations around Dubrovnik are Peljesac peninsula and the island of Korcula.

Dingač (Dingach) from Peljesac is regarded by many experts as the best Croatian red, but you will want to try Plavac Mali, which is an ancestor of Californian Zinfandel as well. By no means should you disregard Dubrovnik region white wines and the best one is Pošip (Poship).

Recently a list of wine consumption by country was published with Croatia on number three in the world just behind tiny Andorra and Vatican. This is mostly due to fact that our wine quality has gone up tremendously so beer consumption is down. On top of that a lot of tourists are enjoying our wines as should you, my dear reader.