Discover the underwater winery on the Pelješac peninsula

Yes, I know, the winter is coming, and we should move to the continental part of the country. But is there anything interesting on the seaside during the wintertime? I mean, the seaside is all about beaches, laying on the sun and doing almost nothing, just resting. But I can’t resist taking you to one of my favorite places on the seaside, at any time of the year. Since it has something to do with wines, and as I’m still in a wine mood after the Zagreb wine fair, I want to tell you something about one of the most popular wine regions in Croatia. So, may I ask for a few minutes of your time, and let me show you Pelješac peninsula, the second largest peninsula after Istria on the Adriatic, which hides a magnificent underwater winery. 

Pelješac itself has a great and interesting history. Every town there has its own interesting story, and the inspirations to write about all those places are limitless. Now, we are focused only on the Drače town, that is small and hidden behind the great names such as Orebić, Ston and Lovište. On the half way between Ston and Orebić, there is a town famous for its unusual attraction - wines under the sea. 

You read it well - a winery under the sea! Edivo winery has its wine cellar 20 meters under the sea level, in one small sunken ship. The owner, a passionate diver, decided to join its two great passions - love for the wine and love for finding magical hidden places under the sea. Thus, the first winery with a wine cellar beneath the sea in Croatia was established. The whole idea started in 2011, and today, Pelješac’s amphorae are well known in Croatia but also abroad. At first, the owner wanted to pour the wine into the clayey amphorae, and seal them, but that didn’t work as water penetrated the wine. The solution was to put the sealed glass bottles into two parts of the amphora. After the wine bottles are inserted into the amphora, then they go down to the sea and will be aging for about two years. If you stop by the winery, you can even dive for your own bottle and see the beauty of this unique wine cellar.

On the whole peninsula, usually in the begging of December, there is a great event called - the Wine cellars open door day, where you can try all of the great south Croatian wine varieties. This would be a good opportunity to discover the underwater winery on the Pelješac peninsula.