A Place Where Dreams Can Be Touched — and Beauty Tasted

The Plantaže Wine Route – We Await You with Full Glasses and Open Hearts

In our lives, there are powerful dreams and even more powerful journeys. Journeys and dreams. A life without dreams and journeys can often be dull and empty.

The most beautiful journeys seek the embrace of stone and forest, the bond between a river and the lake into which it flows, the meeting of islands and sea, the friendship of sun and snow, and a land that gives birth to vineyards. And if all of this exists in one place, then that is a place where dreams can be touched and truly tasted.

That is how it is here in Montenegro, in the place where the sun kisses the vineyard — at Ćemovsko Polje, in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, which proudly carries a grapevine leaf on its coat of arms.

This gift of nature, this realistic dream on Earth, we share generously, knowing that it is a planetary gift meant to be shared — and we do so with hospitality greater than life itself.

We sincerely look forward to welcoming guests, travellers and unexpected visitors, as if they were our own. We do not ask where you are from until you tell us yourself, while the land that raised us speaks about who we are — the land you will come to know through us and through its nature.

When we offer you a glass of our wine, know that it contains our essence, and that we will get to know each other best through wine — because wine does not lie.

WHAT AWAITS YOU ON THIS JOURNEY

The Largest Vineyard in Europe

The Plantaže vineyard lies on a plateau whose altitude varies between only 45 and 70 metres, just about thirty kilometres from the Adriatic Sea — a sea that foams just like our sparkling Val and sends airy, salty greetings to the vineyard.

It stretches beside Lake Skadar, leaning into its abundance, and right next to the cold Cijevna River, above whose canyon rise the Prokletije mountains, sending us the breath of the highlands. The grapes gather all of this within themselves, they “breathe” this air, and that is why our wines breathe with the scent and taste of Montenegro, in all its beauty, blended and transformed into wine.

Plantaže has a proud history, whose first chapter began in the 1960s, when land was created from stone almost by bare hands, and from that land the vine began to grow. Over all these years, the wines became famous — Decanter winners, wines adorned with the “gold of wine olympiads” — yet they remained wines on familiar terms with all people who love this drink.

The grandeur and greatness of people lie in accessible modesty. Such greatness is also carried by Plantaže wines — wines for everyone who loves wine, without exception.

The Grapevine Chooses Its Land — and Some Vines Thrive Only in One Land

Stone, soil, sun and man created the vineyard. But the grapevine does not live everywhere. It took great love for it to give its best, and it gave its best here through our indigenous variety Vranac, which covers as much as 70 percent of the vineyards at Ćemovsko Polje.

Vranac bears the name of the black horse, a breed that is widespread and highly respected in Montenegro, celebrated in songs, because the hero in our traditional songs, stories and legends always rides a “black horse”. The Plantaže expressions of Vranac are the heroes of our wine story.

By placing our indigenous Vranac variety on a pedestal, we have devoted all our love to it — from careful cultivation and gentle treatment of the vines to the finest wine production process.

Yet the other varieties grown by Plantaže are equally important and powerful. Among the white varieties, the indigenous Krstač stands out — a variety that has accepted no soil anywhere in the world except at Ćemovsko Polje, at the micro-location of “Nikolj Crkva”. Attempts to transfer it to other wine regions of the world were unsuccessful. This is another Plantaže rarity.

Plantaže also cultivates the oldest grapevine variety in Montenegro — Kratošija. It has been proven that Montenegro is the country of origin of this variety, which later spread to the region and other parts of the world. The oldest written records of Kratošija cultivation in Montenegro date back to the 15th century, in the Statute of Budva.

Challenges are the choice of the great, which is why Plantaže also cultivates numerous international grapevine varieties at Ćemovsko Polje.

We are proud of our history, and if you spend time with us, you will see how proudly we speak of past eras. Even our wines carry the spirit of time in their names — Vranac wines such as Epoha and Vladika, whose name symbolises homage to Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Montenegrin ruler, bishop and poet; or the brilliant rosé Regina, named in memory of our Montenegrin princess Jelena Petrović, Queen Elena of Savoy of Italy.

The Plantaže wine showcase is rich, arranged with decades of work and knowledge from a globally recognised winery. It includes the vibrant Malvasia, the distinctive and juicy Luča, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and the refined Pro Anima, powerful and great Vranac wines, Crnogorski Cabernet, Crnogorski Merlot and the ultra-premium Stari Podrum line, as well as the archive greats Premijer and Reserve.

Cellars: Stone Halls, Temples of Wine and Wine Museums

Montenegro is a land of great Plantaže and great wines. This small country of great wonders — to us the dearest and therefore the greatest, because it is our home — has every right to use superlatives such as “the largest”.

The vineyard at Ćemovsko Polje is the largest vineyard in a single complex in Europe, covering 2,310 hectares with around 10 million grapevines. There, within the vineyard, is also the largest European wine cellar — Šipčanik.

Located around 30 metres underground, covering an area of 7,000 m², Šipčanik is a monumental tunnel 356 metres long, filled with rows stretching hundreds of metres, lined with small and large barrels in which more than two million litres of wine calmly “sleep” and mature in premium oak. The cellar maintains a pleasant coolness ideal for wine, always the same, even when outside Podgorica reaches 40 degrees in summer.

There, wines also age in bottles, and valuable archive examples are preserved. Šipčanik has its own history — from an Ottoman fortification, to a military airfield, to a fascinating wine cellar.

In addition to the magnificent wine temple of Šipčanik, we also have our first and oldest wine cellar, located in the heart of today’s vineyard, near the first vineyard “Pavlovine” — the soulful Lješkopolje cellar, created in 1963.

The view at dusk from the roof terrace of this cellar is the kind of image one dreams about: countless shades of sky melting into a sea of vineyards. Perhaps the winemakers created the wine named Stari Podrum Cuvée inspired precisely by the history, romance, nostalgia and beauty of this cellar. Taste that wine — and you will understand.

Our third cellar is Ćemovsko Polje, where the largest part of wine production takes place, and which also represents an example of the greatest global production and technological achievements in this field.

The Plantaže Wine Route — A Route You Must Take

Plantaže wines are accessible in our retail stores at attractive locations, as well as in markets throughout Montenegro. They are accessible and available, but the special pleasure lies in drinking and tasting these wines in our cellars, where they are created.

In our cellars, tastings await you — sommeliers, wines paired with perfect bites that suit them beautifully, prepared for you by excellent chefs working in our restaurants, which are known as favourite locations of true hedonists.

Alongside the wine route as the priority and dominant experience, the gastronomic significance and potential of Plantaže should certainly not be overlooked: “Jezero”, the restaurant on the shore of Lake Skadar, with a menu dominated by the famous carp in all its variations, and “13. Jul”, a restaurant that radiates a special gastronomic emotion.

All of this is accompanied by an essential ingredient of Mediterranean flavour — olive oil, the extra virgin liquid gold of Plantaže, which should be treated as an important part of the company’s offer, just like the famous Plantaže brandies: strong and honest, made for congratulations and toasts, such as the already legendary Crnogorska Loza, Prvijenac and Kruna, or those smooth and juicy spirits made from peaches grown on the company’s plantations.

You can taste all of this on the wine route — a fantastic experience of the power of the vineyard.

An adrenaline rush from the beauty of the natural surroundings, delicious food and premium wines — this is the irresistible trilogy for which people travel to the “end of the world”. And our wine route is a journey through time, an experience of richness, diversity and abundance of nature that leaves no one indifferent, but opens the way to exploration and hedonism.

The Plantaže Wine Route is the most tasteful way to discover not only the secrets of wine, but also the flavours and origins of gastronomic specialities: where they come from, how they are made, why they are so delicious and why they pair so well with a particular wine.

The interaction is strong. Visitors have the opportunity to talk, socialise and share stories with their Plantaže hosts, and through this they discover local specificities, hear authentic stories and, through such communication, better understand and experience Montenegro.

The wine route has many variations and offers — different route contents and tour programmes, depending on duration, choice of cellar and tasting menus.

Through the enjoyment of tasting at Plantaže, you will also discover certain rules for recognising wine quality, because this is an unforgettable sensory game prepared for you by experienced Plantaže sommeliers and oenologists. You will learn how to combine your senses with the power of imagination. You will learn to describe wines not as a cold list of technical characteristics, but as fascinating stories.

In accordance with the current epidemiological situation in Montenegro and respecting the current measures of the National Coordination Body, only Šipčanik Wine Cellar is currently open for tourist visits.

The authentic ambience of this unique wine cellar in Europe offers the possibility of organised lunch and/or dinner programmes in the impressive atmosphere of the tunnel. Surrounded by wooden barrels, enjoy wine and food pairings accompanied by top sommeliers and experience the richness of different styles and types of Plantaže wines.

In one word — surrender to the perfect pairing of wine and gastronomic specialities.

The imposing size of this wine temple also offers numerous possibilities for business meetings and different types of events, both in the tasting hall and in the cellar hall. Thanks to its spacious area, the cellar is an ideal location where, in addition to a tourist tour, you can easily organise a business event with quality service from professional staff and a confirmed reputation as an excellent host.

The cellar is open for tourist visits every day from 9:00 to 17:00, and the visit programme can be selected on site, without prior announcement.

For more information about visits: +382 67 099 099, visit@plantaze.com, www.plantaze.com

We await you with full glasses and open hearts.