What is "postup"

Postup is wine growing region on Croatia's Pelješac peninsula just to the east of Orebić. It takes its name from the small village that sits at the center of it.

The main grape harvested in Postup is Plavac Mali and, like the grapes from the region of nearby Dingač, the grapes grown here are held in high regard. Postup was the second Croatian wine region, after Dingač, to be registered for state protection (today Protected Geographical Status) in 1967.

Postup straddles the Adriatic Sea with views across the Pelješac Channel to the islands of Korčula and Badija as well as across the Mljet Channel to the islands of Mljet and Lastovo. The region can be accessed via the road leading from Orebić to Ston (the D414) on a smaller route leading to the villages of Borje and Podubuče.

The wines grown in Postup are typically crushed, bottled, and aged in nearby Potomje where most of the main wineries for Pelješac are located. While they don't approach the robust character typical of Plavac Mali-based wines from Dingač, they are still able to develop a fuller body than those grown in the interior due to the slope of the vineyards as well as the sunlight reflected from the Adriatic Sea. The grapes are also considerably easier to harvest than those of Dingač due to a more established infrastructure.

Notable producers of Postup region wines include: Vinarija Dingač, Bura-Mokalo, and Bartulović among others.

Postup is a Croatian premium quality red wine produced of the plavac Mali crni grape variety in a limited homonymous area of the Pelješac sub-region of the Middle and South Dalmatia wine growing region.

At about 50 ha of the locality Postup, in a good year it is possible to produce about 34,000-40,000 t of grapes (the harvest yield being at most 60%), that is about 2,400 hl of the premium wine postup. In fact, a good year is one when due to the specific micro-climatic conditions a part of the grapes of the variety plavac Mali crni grown at this locality (as well as at the locality called Dingač) over-ripe so that there are about 30% of dry berries, increasing the sugar content and making conditions to produce many other ingredients of importance for the quality of the future wine.

Postup wine is characterized by a high content of ethanol (often over 14% vol.) and dry extract (over 30 g/l). The wine has a purple - dark red color with blue reflections, as well as a pleasant and unique fragrance and bouquet. It has always been highly priced at the market and used to be sold as much as four times more expensive than other Dalmatian red wines (apart dingač). Postup is classified as the highest standard recognized by the Croatian low - " Vrhunsko Vino" ("Premium Quality Wine"). It was the second wine (after dingač) protected as "Premium Quality" (1967).