Croatia Underwater Winery

Edi and Ivo failed twice before they figured out how to age wine 20 metres underwater. Now Edivo Vina buries amphoras in the Adriatic off Peljesac, where constant temperature and hydrostatic pressure create a pinewood aroma that doesn't exist in any land-aged version. The Navis Mysterium Tris is the proof: same grapes, same vintage, three aging methods — amphora on land, amphora underwater, barrel. Non-certified divers can do a Discovery Scuba to retrieve their own bottle from the seabed. A sunken Game of Thrones ship prop sits among the amphoras.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Decode How Two Failed Attempts Created the World's Only Underwater Winery History · Free

   Where: Start at the Edivo Wine Bar terrace, Drače 18 A — right on the waterfront of Mali Ston Bay. Find the display panel or simply ask the staff to tell you the founding story before you do anything else.

   What: In 2009, two local divers named Ivo Šegović and Edi Bajurin had an idea. The company name 'EDIvo' is literally Edi + Ivo. They wanted to revive what ancient Greeks and Romans actually did — store amphorae on the Adriatic seabed. First attempt: seawater seeped into the bottles at 2–3 bar pressure. Every bottle ruined. Second attempt: same result. Third attempt: cork + two rubber layers inside a resin-lined clay amphora. Finally watertight. Croatia's government then gave them exclusive rights to this specific stretch of seabed — the only winery in the country legally permitted to age wine on the ocean floor.

   How: Stand at the terrace railing and look out at the bay. The underwater cellar is directly offshore, 14 to 20 meters below the surface of the water you're looking at right now. That dark water is a wine cellar. Let that land before you walk inside.

   Backup: If staff are too busy to talk, the winery's website and display materials tell the founding story. It's also in the printed tasting menu.

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2. 2 Taste the Three-Way Experiment — Same Wine, Three Fates, Three Completely Different Results Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Edivo Wine Bar tasting table. Walk-ins welcome; the full tasting flight includes 6 wines and a snack platter (local fish, pršut, cheese, gluten-free bread). Around €30–40 per person for the tasting without diving.

   What: The single most important thing to taste here is the Navis Mysterium side-by-side. Three glasses. Same Plavac Mali grapes from the Dingač appellation, same vintage, same cellar to start — then aged three completely different ways: (1) land cellar, standard; (2) sealed glass bottle 20 meters underwater for 700 days; (3) sealed inside a clay amphora — same type ancient Greeks used, resin-lined — submerged for 700 days. Ask for the Tris tasting if available. The underwater versions gain a distinct pinewood aroma that is simply absent from the land-aged bottle. You can smell 700 days of ocean darkness.

   How: Ask: 'Možemo li probati Navis Mysterium Tris?' (Can we taste the Navis Mysterium Tris?). If the full Tris isn't available as a flight, ask to taste at minimum the standard bottle against the undersea version. The difference is not subtle. Also note the Plavac Mali backstory: in 2001, DNA testing by Prof. Carole Meredith of UC Davis confirmed that California's Zinfandel is actually Plavac Mali's *parent* grape — Plavac is the offspring of Zinfandel (Crljenak Kaštelanski) and Dobričić. You are drinking the parent of the grape that made Napa Valley.

   Backup: If the side-by-side flight isn't available, order a single glass of the Navis Mysterium Undersea and ask the staff to describe the difference. The story translates even with one glass.

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3. 3 Descend 20 Meters to Retrieve Your Own Bottle from the Seabed — No Diver's Card Required Adventure · Price: very high

   Where: Book in advance at edivovina.hr — slots are limited because the owners (all three are PADI instructors) lead every single dive personally. The boat departs from the Drače waterfront directly in front of the wine bar.

   What: The underwater cellar sits at 14 to 20 meters, inside and around an old fishing boat that spent 30+ years on the seabed before Edivo claimed it. Steel cages hold the amphorae in rows. The sea has colonized everything — coral, sea fans, marine life living between the wine bottles. Somewhere down there is also a Game of Thrones prop ship, the 'Silence' — Euron Greyjoy's flagship from the Black Fleet — sunk here during filming on the Dalmatian coast. You will swim through a wine cellar that is also a reef that is also a Game of Thrones set. You descend. You find your amphora in the cage. You pull it free. At 20 meters, the pressure is 3 times what it is on the surface. That pressure, plus constant 15°C darkness, is why the wine tastes different from anything aged on land. You carry it up. You drink it on the terrace.

   How: For certified divers — one dive, equipment and boat transfer included, ~€200. For non-certified — Discovery Scuba program: first dive is a shallow-water training session, second dive is to the cellar, ~€240. Package includes equipment, transfer, the dive, a bottle of Navis Mysterium to take home, and the full wine tasting flight on return. You do not need a diver's card. You need 2–3 hours and the willingness to go.

   Backup: If health/medical conditions prevent diving, the non-diving option is still meaningful — see step 4.

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4. 4 Watch the Amphora Emerge — The Non-Diver's Reveal on the Terrace Wine · Price: high · Optional

   Where: Edivo Wine Bar terrace, waterfront, Drače.

   What: If you're not diving, you still get the reveal. Order the ceremonial amphora opening. What arrives at your table has been 700 days in the sea. The outside of the clay vessel is encrusted with oyster shells, barnacles, coral fragments — actual marine life that grew on your wine while it aged. You are holding a piece of the Adriatic. Staff will open it at the table. The pinewood aroma hits the moment the seal breaks. Then the wine itself: plum jam, dark cherry, cedar, a mineral edge that's almost saline. You can taste the sea in it. This is not a metaphor.

   How: Ask for the amphora tasting or purchase experience — ~€100–120 for the ceremonial opening with tasting. Alternatively, buy a sealed Navis Mysterium Undersea Amphora bottle (priced ~€300) to take home and open at a later date — every bottle is literally a one-of-a-kind object, no two identical.

   Backup: The Navis Mysterium Tris gift box (hand-carved wooden box, all three versions of the wine) is available to purchase and take home. It is the single best souvenir from Croatia that nobody has ever heard of.

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5. 5 Eat Mali Ston Oysters at the Edge of the Same Bay That Aged Your Wine Adventure · Price: low · Optional

   Where: Drive 15 minutes east along the Pelješac coast to Mali Ston (coordinates approx. 42.857, 17.697). Pull up at the oyster farms directly on the bay — there are several open-air restaurants right on the water. Bota Šare and Kapetanova Kuća are the most well-known.

   What: Mali Ston Bay is one of Europe's most storied oyster locations — the Romans farmed shellfish here before the Dubrovnik Republic was making money off Pelješac wine in the 14th century. The oysters are small, wild-fed by the plankton of this specific bay, intensely oceanic and sweet. This is the exact same water your Navis Mysterium aged in. The wine's minerals came from this bay. The oysters live in this bay. Eating them together is not a pairing coincidence — it is the same terroir expressing itself twice.

   How: Arrive around noon before the lunch crowds. Order a dozen oysters, ask for lemon and local white wine (the area also produces Rukatac/Maraština whites). Eat them looking at the water. If you brought a bottle of Navis Mysterium from Edivo, open it here.

   Backup: If Mali Ston feels like too much of a detour, the Edivo tasting menu itself includes a shellfish/fish platter. But Mali Ston is 15 minutes away and worthy of the stop.

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