Our story is not the result of a single generation, but of a long relationship between people, land, and time. In that tradition, we work without shortcuts, cultivating our vineyards organically and entirely by hand, believing that only absolute respect for nature can produce wines that reveal their full depth and longevity.
"Pelješac is the home of Plavac Mali. From stone, sky, and wind, Stagnum is born - a wine that carries the colours of its land. Its violet-red hues, with deep granite-blue reflections, mirror the sky beneath which it is born."
— Frano Miloš
Philosophy | Our philosophy is rooted in uncompromising organic cultivation, spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, and a deep respect for the vineyard. We have chosen a slower and more demanding path, believing that the true strength of Pelješac can only be expressed through healthy, unburdened vines. We embrace a classic style, with extended ageing and without the influence of new oak, preserving the purest expression of the native Plavac Mali grape.
From the very beginning, we have worked exclusively with grapes grown without herbicides or mineral fertilizers, using only natural plant protection methods permitted in organic production.
In the vineyard, we listen to the vine and help it bring forth the best possible fruit, while preserving the soil and the living organisms within it. We work exclusively with native yeasts that naturally originate from our vineyards, allowing the grapes to express their most authentic character. Their strength and personality depend on the climatic conditions of each vintage, which is why every fermentation carries the signature of the harvest from which it is born.
Fermentation and maturation unfold spontaneously, without force. Our role is that of a careful observer: to intervene at the right moment and gently guide the process so the wine retains its natural balance. This way of creating wine requires intuition built over generations and knowledge that cannot be rushed.
Committed to a classic style, we do not use new barrels during the ageing process. This allows the wine to develop slowly and naturally, without the imposed aromas of oak that would overpower its original character.
Our ultimate goal is to preserve the individual character of the variety: to create a wine that reaches its full expression in barrel, continues its natural evolution in bottle, and becomes a rich, elegant, long-lived wine carrying the unmistakable signature of the native Plavac Mali grape and the place from which it comes.
Miloš Family | Our roots in Ponikve, on the Pelješac Peninsula, trace back to the time of the Dubrovnik Republic, while the winery’s present identity was shaped by Frano Miloš, a visionary who was among the first to recognize the iconic potential of Plavac Mali. Today, as a family, we cultivate steep organic vineyards in the rocky landscape of Pelješac, combining generations of experience with a new winery carved into the stone.
For centuries, our family’s life has been inseparably tied to the land of Pelješac, where growing grapes and olives has been a way of life for generations. Even during communist Yugoslavia, when private enterprise was not permitted and the family was required to sell its entire grape harvest to state wineries, we preserved our finest vineyard sites, refusing to compromise on quality and continuing to grow grapes of the highest standard.
With the fall of communism and the opening of the market, Frano Miloš began producing wine under his own name, founding one of the first private wineries on Pelješac, and among the first in Croatia. At a time when such an approach was rare, his unwavering belief in the strength of the Ponikve terroir gave rise to Stagnum - a wine that Hugh Johnson described in his Pocket Wine Guide as Croatia’s first cult wine. We were also among the pioneers of wine tourism on the peninsula, opening the doors of our winery to guests seeking to experience the authentic landscape that shapes our lives.
Today, the winery is run by the three of us: Frano and his sons Ivan and Josip, continuing the family story together. Alongside the old cellars we still use today, we recently completed the construction of a new winery, largely carved into the rock. The space was designed to provide ideal conditions for the slow and graceful maturation of wine.
Each of us has our role in the winery, from work in the vineyards and cellar to presenting the wines and welcoming guests. Although technology and equipment have evolved over time, our way of working remains the same: our wines are born from the family’s daily work, through natural production with minimal intervention.
Vineyards | Our 15 hectares of privately owned organic vineyards stretch from the bay of Prapratno to the village of Ponikve, within the EU protected designation of origin. Here, the vines grow on steep terraces and within dry-stone amphitheatres, all shaped entirely by hand.
Thanks to the sandy, phylloxera-free soils, the native grape varieties Plavac Mali and Rukatac grow on their own roots. Without irrigation, these vines produce low yields of exceptional concentration and character, preserving the pure signature of Pelješac stone.
The southern slopes of Pelješac absorb abundant solar warmth from early spring through late autumn, creating ideal conditions for growing Plavac Mali, the native red grape variety that reaches its fullest potential precisely in these extreme conditions. This adaptation is visible in its strong trunk, forked growth, and dense canopy, reminiscent of Mediterranean maquis.
While most of our vineyards are dedicated to Plavac Mali, we also cultivate Rukatac in higher vineyard sites. This white variety, present in Dalmatia for centuries, is exceptionally well adapted to our climate. It is capable of producing white wines with pronounced structure, long ageing potential, and striking minerality.
The distinctive sandy soils over dolomitic limestone naturally retain moisture, eliminating the need for irrigation even in the driest years. Thanks to the natural protection provided by the sand, most of our vineyards grow on their own roots, a rarity in the world of viticulture that lends the wines an even greater sense of authenticity.
We shape this landscape by hand, forming terraces and dry stone walls that follow the natural contours of the land, creating small, distinct vineyard parcels harmoniously integrated into the surroundings. Stone here is not merely a backdrop; it shapes the slopes of Pelješac into amphitheatres, while preserving moisture, storing warmth, and defining the character of the grapes. Our work is a direct relationship with the soil and the vine, where on slopes reaching 45°, each vine requires individual attention.
The Mediterranean climate is marked by strong contrasts, with summer heat and drought balanced by the beneficial maestral wind. This combination of light, warmth, and ventilation supports healthy vines and natural organic cultivation. Although yields per vine are low, it is precisely this scarcity of the soil that gives the grapes their remarkable strength and longevity.
Cellar | Our cellar, carved into living rock, is a place of silence where wine is born through spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts from our own vineyards. By bringing together the tradition of the old family cellar and our new winery, we uphold a classic approach of extended ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels, allowing the wine to find its natural balance in the stillness of stone and darkness, without force or haste. This is how Stagnum quietly matures in the cellar for up to ten years before reaching its full expression.
Our first wines were shaped in the old family cellar, long before the new winery was built. Today, the two spaces are connected by a tunnel carved into the rock, forming a single whole where tradition naturally lives on in a new setting. The new winery is not a replacement, but a continuation of the same path, providing a calmer and more stable environment that our wines require for their long maturation.
In the cellar, processes unfold naturally, without the addition of selected yeasts. We work exclusively with native yeasts originating from our own vineyards, ensuring that each wine preserves the most authentic character of its vintage. Spontaneous fermentation follows its own rhythm, while our role is that of a careful observer, gently guiding the process so the wine retains its harmony.
Ageing takes place in large Slavonian oak barrels with a capacity of 2,000 to 2,500 liters. These barrels provide the setting for a noble and slow oxidative process, without the imposed aromatic influence of new oak. After years spent in wood, our red wines continue their development in bottle, in the lowest level of the cellar, where complete stillness, darkness, and constant temperature are ensured. Stagnum is the culmination of this process, a wine to which we dedicate even a full decade of rest in ideal conditions of darkness and stable temperature, allowing it to develop depth and elegance.
In both cellars, the living rock has been left untouched, naturally maintaining ideal humidity and temperature. In this way, the wine matures within the same stone from which the vines grow. Here, wine is neither rushed nor forced; it is observed and listened to until it reaches its full expression, first in barrel, and then in bottle.
A visit to the winery includes a guided tour of the cellar and an introduction to our approach to winemaking. This is followed by a tasting of our wines and olive oil in the very setting where they are created, overlooking the Pelješac landscape.
Our wines reflect the place, the grape variety, and the time in which they are made. They develop slowly, through a natural approach and years of ageing.
Our approach is rooted in respect for the vineyard and the natural course of winemaking. We believe that the character of each wine is shaped in the vine and the soil from which it comes.
Welcome to Miloš Winery.
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