Wine Posts – Wanderwiles

Making wine the old-fashioned way: Winery Miloš in Ston, Croatia

DSCF2291

At the recommendation of our server at D’Vino in Dubrovnik, we stopped at Winery Miloš in Ston on our way to Split. Ston is on the Pelješac peninsula only a short detour (on the 414) off the main highway about an hour into the 3 hour drive between Dubrovnik and Split.

We dropped in without a reservation, and were greeted by the son of owner, Frano Miloš. The very knowledgeable young man conducted us on a short private tour of the small winery followed by a tasting of several of their wines. Miloš uses only Plavic mali grapes aged in traditional 2000 liter Slavonian oak barrels and the results are excellent, garnering international awards. They were awaiting word from the U.S. regarding a current entry at the time we were there, having won in their class the year before. read more

Dubrovnik wine bar: D’Vino

We spied D’Vino on our first short stop in Dubrovnik since it was just across from Glam Cafe, the coffee and craft beer bar that David had his heart set on. The proprietress of Glam Cafe was friendly with D’Vino’s owner and recommended it for our return. We were pleased, on our return, to find that D’Vino was also recommended by our AirBnB hostesses.

D’Vino is located in old town Dubrovnik at Palmotićeva ul. 4A, just a short walk from the main pedestrian boulevard, Stradun, near the Pile Gate. It’s cosy and warm and the perfect spot to sample Croatian wine. D’Vino also offers small (and not so small) plates including local cheeses and meats. Their smoked duck was fantastic. read more

Slovenia’s lesser-known wine country

DSCF1208 — Just before the Prus winery. The church in the distance is probably in Croatia.

Ever since a Venetian restaurateur had told us about Slovenian “orange wine,” David and I had been dying to try it. To our frustration, few people seemed to know what we were talking about and the ones who did had none on offer. We decided to venture into Slovenian wine country to find this elusive wine.

Slovenia has 3 wine districts. The most prestigious–and by all accounts very beautiful–is on the Italian border. Another lies to the north with the city of Maribor at its heart. Finally, there is the eastern wine region, Posavje, that borders Croatia. It’s less well-known, but boasts the award-winning Prus winery (“Vinska Klet Prus”) near the village of Metlika. Not only has the proprietor be repeatedly named best overall winemaker in Croatia, but the winery has begun making an orange wine that has been named best in class. We were intrigued. I called ahead, and with some language difficulties, determined that an English-speaking tasting would be available. http://www.vinaprus.si/en/ read more