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Wine / Spirits Education in Trebinje
Herzegovina's sun-baked wine town, where monks have made Vranac in the Tvrdos cellars since the fifteenth century.
Why here
Herzegovina's karst limestone grows Zilavka whites and Vranac reds under more sun than almost anywhere in the Balkans, and Trebinje holds the region's two poles of wine education: the Tvrdos Monastery cellars, in continuous monastic use since the fifteenth century with Vranac maturing in hundred-year-old oak, and Podrumi Vukoje, named best winery in Southeast Europe, pouring from vineyards the Austro-Hungarian monarchy declared imperial plots, in a cellar eight meters underground with a terrace over the town. Thirty minutes from Dubrovnik and a fraction of its prices, this is the day trip Croatia's crowds haven't found.
Best months
April to October, with September harvest the peak; tastings run 10-25 euros. The Tvrdos site is Serbian-language only, so book by phone or through your lodging. Day-trip traffic from Dubrovnik is rising but still light.
Getting there & around
Thirty minutes from Dubrovnik, two hours from Mostar. A driver covers both cellars and the old town's plane-tree square in a day.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate
Schools & guides (2)
Podrumi Vukoje 1982
OutfitterNamed best winery in Southeast Europe, pouring from Austro-Hungarian imperial vineyard plots in a deep cellar with a wine gallery and terrace over Trebinje.
Tvrdos Monastery Cellars
OutfitterOne of Europe's oldest continuously operating monastic cellars, pouring Vranac matured in century-old oak inside the fifteenth-century monastery.