Wine From Montenegro

Kotor, Montenegro is at the end of one of the most beautiful inland passages in the world--a long, snaking fjord that takes 45 minutes to navigate. In the blue misty morning light, the surrounding mountains took on an ethereal beauty (my photo is inadequate) and the water was a palette of pastel colors. National Geographic named Montenegro as one of the "50 Places of a Lifetime" due to its historic architecture from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, pristine beaches and rugged mountains. It's becoming a tourism hot spot due to the natural beauty, the friendly people and low cost relative to other resorts on the Adriatic and Mediterranean.

We took a bus tour to the largest wine producer in the Balkans, Plantaže Winery, who also has the largest contiguous vineyard in Europe (with 11 million vines). Plantaže grows the indigenous grapes Vranac and Krstač which have been cultivated in the area for thousands of years. Vranac makes powerful red wines (the name means "black stallion") with a bright purple color, jammy fruit and plenty of tannins. Krstač yields a dry white wine with ample acidity and round pear flavors. The geology of Montenegro is karst--eroded limestone and dolomite--with extensive natural caves. I'm a bit fuzzy on the history of this area , but during a recent war with Serbia, caves were expanded and used to store aircraft since the technology at the time could not detect them when stored in rock. The Plantaže Winery is housed inside an extensive cave system which provides the perfect constant temperature for winemaking and wine storage. They prepared us a gourmet meal to accompany their wines, which though normally vegetarian, I did eat. The starter was paper thin dried beef (like beef jerky but not as chewy) in a salad with olives and two kinds of hard (cheddar style) cheese. There were three types of fluffy, warm breads, then the main course of tender pot roast, dumpling and roasted cherry tomatoes. As all the produce we sampled in Montenegro, the tomatoes and the salad were fantastic. The growing conditions in the valley where Plantaže Winery is located is ideal, with ample sun and water but a cooling influence from the sea and Montenegro's largest lake. The combination of limestone soil, ideal climate and unique varietals creates wonderful wines!

Wine shop, Montenegro

On the return trip, we visited another wine shop built into a cave and stopped at an overlook to view one of the many scenic beaches. I would love to return to Montenegro and Croatia--they were modern, clean, populated with friendly residents and the food and cuisine were excellent. Dubrovnik, Croatia was another cruise stop for us. One word of advice: explore the Old Town early in the morning! We arrived early and the main plaza was nearly empty. By the time we had circumnavigated the ancient stone wall which runs around the city, it was noon and the square was impassable due to all the thousands of tourists--it was literally wall-to-wall people packed like sardines in a can. Our Celebrity Solstice housed nearly 3,000 passengers, so imagine how many tourists were in this small town with four cruise ships in port!