Croatia Travel Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Peljesac’

It’s not enough to be the “pearl of the Adriatic”; Dubrovnik would also like to be part of Croatia. Politically, it’s part of the country but geographically, not so much. As part of the agreement settling the former war in Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Hercegovina was awarded an outlet to the sea at Neum, 160km to the north. That means that in order to go from Dubrovnik to the rest of Croatia along the coast, you have to pass through a border control. All well and good; the war is over; let bygones be bygones. It’s not as though Croatians or anyone else have a problem crossing the Neum checkpoint. But still, it’s disagreeable, which is why several years ago the government devised a plan to bypass the Bosnian border by building a bridge to the Peljesac Peninsula. The expensive plan proved controversial as some accused it of being a government boondoggle meant to line the pockets of politicians. So it was put on hold. Also put on hold was the planned extension of the Rijeka-Split motorway down to Dubrovnik.

Austerity is austerity but when transportation minister Zlatko Komadina announced that there was no money for the Peljesac Bridge or for extending the motorway while at the same time Rijeka was to get another highway, Dubrovnik citizens were dismayed. The dismay turned to fury when Ivan Dadić a supervisor with the Croatia Roads Authority commented that Dubrovnik really didn’t need the bridge or the highway because “in Dubrovnik nobody moved during the tourist season” anyway and as for the border: “In my opinion it is enough to have a ferry and to wait for ten years until Bosnia and Herzegovina enters the EU, then the problems with the border at Neum will disappear”. In the meantime, “Dubrovnik is well-connected by air”.

Nice. Let me assure you, Mr. Dadic, that  the visitors I’ve been writing for over the last 15 years want to visit Split, Dubrovnik and several islands in between. And they need to do it fast because they often have only a week or 10 days in Croatia. It isn’t just about Dubrovnik; it’s about tourism in the entire southeastern tip of Croatia. If your idea is to fly people into Dubrovnik and keep them imprisoned there, it hurts the whole region. Please remove foot from mouth and insert brain in head.

The vineyards of Peljesac peninsula produce some of the finest wine in Croatia. Dingac, Plavac Mali, Postup are renowned throughout Croatia and produced in the dry soil of the Peljesac peninsula.

Now this centuries-old winemaking region has attracted an unlikely new vintner: AIG’s new CEO, Robert Benmosche. Reuters has reported that Mr Benmosche, who had recently come under fire for a 12-bathroom villa in Dubrovnik, has spent millions bringing California vines to his vineyard in Viganj to produce the popular Zinfandel wine. Recent tests have placed the origin of Zinfandel grapes squarely in Croatia, so for this CEO it’s just a return to the source.

While steering AIG back to financial health with taxpayer funds, Benmosche also hopes to put Croatia’s wine industry on the map. Rather than a lot of unknown vintages with unpronounceable names, Croatian wines will eventually be dominated by the well-known Zinfandel. Mr. Benmosche is sure that Croatian Zinfandel is a very good investment. Perhaps better than AIG.