- Explore
Get to know municipality of Orebić
Souvenir shops
- IQM Destination
Integrated quality management
IQM Accommodation
Half a Century of the Dingač Tunnel: A Symbol of Pelješac Resilience and World-Class Wine
26. 11. 2025.
From goat trails to world-renowned wines — the 400-metre tunnel shortened the route for Potomje’s winegrowers and winemakers and became a tourist attraction.
It was Saturday, 29 November, exactly 50 years ago, when the Dingač Tunnel was officially opened beneath the Toma hill in Potomje. From that day on, life on Pelješac changed forever, connecting the peninsula’s inland villages with the famous slopes of Dingač.
Although only 400 metres long, the tunnel reduced a nearly 20-kilometre journey to just four. Before its construction, the only possible route was through Trstenik, and grapes were transported on donkeys and mules along steep goat paths for more than an hour.
The idea came from Vice Miličić, and before the works began there was a long debate — a road or a tunnel? When the decision was finally made, the vineyard owners of Dingač financed the construction through their cooperative.
The Split-based company Konstruktor, where the Potomje local Pavle Andričević worked and naturally became the chief designer, needed nine months to complete the breakthrough. The tunnel was formally opened on Republic Day by Rudi Jelić, President of the Municipal Assembly of Dubrovnik — and the rest is history.
A Famous Wine
Thanks to the tunnel, the vineyard area on Dingač expanded, increasing the production of this powerful Plavac Mali wine. Already in 1964 it received international protection from the Geneva-based Bureau for the Protection of Industrial, Literary and Artistic Property, placing it in the highest category of quality as a famous wine.
Today the Dingač protected designation covers 758 hectares, with around 78.5 hectares planted with vines. The wines are complex, powerful, tannic, ruby-coloured, full-bodied and high in alcohol, with notes of ripe fruit and a long, warm, rich finish.
A Tourist Attraction
Besides its economic importance, the Dingač Tunnel is also a special tourist attraction. Traffic flows in one direction only, so drivers often stop to check for oncoming cars. Cyclists love it too, frequently choosing the cycling route that passes directly through the tunnel.
Due to temperature inversions, ice formations — locally called skandaleti — sometimes appear in winter. Nothing unusual, say the locals of Potomje, often the coldest place in this part of Dalmatia in winter months. When it rains, water drains towards Dingač through the karst terrain, making such phenomena normal. No incidents have ever occurred, and the Municipality of Orebić maintains the tunnel, having installed new lighting and asphalt in recent years.
Like a portal to another world, the tunnel takes you from the peninsula’s interior straight onto the breathtaking Dingač slopes plunging towards the sea, with million-dollar views of the open Adriatic and the islands of Mljet and Korčula.
At the foot of Dingač lie the settlements of Borak and Potočine — increasingly attractive destinations for lovers of authentic Dalmatia, crystal-clear sea and, of course, top-quality Dingač wine.
recent news
Tags
