We were thoroughly enjoying our five-day luxury yacht charter along the Croatian coastline from Dubrovnik… and had been eagerly awaiting the new tastes that would be presented to us, including the local beverages. That there are so many beautiful wines coming out of Croatia these days was of great interest to us and the idea of taking an overland tour of the wine region known as “The Pelijesac Peninsula” gathering momentum… and with it a hint of excitement. "Soon, very soon!” we told ourselves as we imagined swirling fragrant reds and whites around in glasses, appreciating each and every new "bouquet" before taking a tiny sip. . . and eventually, draining the entire glass.

Boarding a van in Trstenik Harbour, we thrilled to an upward journey on a steep and winding road, that then took us through a gap in the hills and down into a rich and fertile valley, where our first wine tastings were to be hosted by the Vinarija Matusko in Potomje. Almost an hour later, we had almost unanimously decided that the local wine variety, "Dingac" was indeed very palatable. While on site, we heard the story of Mike Grgic taking his Californian wines to the Paris Wine Tasting and beating every wine there in what was a blind tasting! We also learned that the grape variety, "Zinfandel" has been traced back to Croatia. From the Matusko, we went to the Vinarjia Korta Katarina in Orebic, which we found to be a "sit down" type of tasting, with an interesting rosé wine on offer -- which was getting a lot of attention at my table! The memory of the ride back to Korcula Island aboard the yacht, "Tajna Mora" is of a bunch of very happy people laughing and joking.