Potomje is an old village situated in the middle part of Pelješac at the 300 meters of altitude, 15 km far away from Orebić. The village is a center of production of some of the best wines in Croatia (Dingač, Postup, Plavac). Vineyards and olive grows are located around the village, as well as on the southern slopes in the middle of the Pelješac peninsula. These slopes are exceptionally steep, descending towards the cliffs on the seashore, which has made life difficult for generations of vine producers.

In order to reach these fields peasants had to walk all the way across the hill until they built in 1976 a neighboring tunnel, a 400 meters long present day tourist attraction. Before the tunnel was built, people had to carry the crates of grapes to the winery over the 400 m high pass of the mountain on their own or with the help of donkeys, their faithful companions. In the process the donkey has become one of the symbols of Dalmatia which can be found on many labels of wine from Potomje area, including famous Dingač winery. On the other hand, the position of the vineyards which are planted from sea level up to 300 m on 45 degree slope has a positive impact on the grape quality. Namely, given that there are over 2800 hours of annual sunlight in this area, the weather provides ideal conditions for red wines growing. In other words, due to the position of slopes the grapes are exposed to direct rays of the sun and to the reflection of the sun’s rays from the blue surface of the sea. At the same time the land is very rugged karst with little top soil, which is excellent for grapes from which red wines are made. To be more precise, the rock surface is white so it also reflects sun onto the vine even from below, while the grapes look for sustenance through roots that go as far as ten meters deep since this is an area mostly devoid of rain. All in all, neither heavy rains nor draughts hurt these grapes excessively, so under mentioned triple insolation and other favorable conditions the grapes grow to become an excellent ingredient for top quality red vines. The quality of these wines is increasingly recognized by wine lovers across the world. For example, dingač wines produced by Mateo Vicelić, a young wine manufacturer from Pelješac, has been recently chosen by official British royal wine suppliers to be served on the court.

During Meridien Ten tours you will be cycling through Potomje village where we strongly encourage you to stop at Matuško, Skaramuča, Madirazza, Dingač or Miloš winery for wine tasting and to buy a bottle or two with which you will treat yourself at the end of the tour in Dubrovnik.