ACI Marina Dubrovnik is not in Dubrovnik. It lies up the Rijeka Dubrovačka inlet at Komolac, several miles from the old city, in sheltered water that is one of the safest berths on the Adriatic — and that gap between the marina and the walls is the single most useful thing to know when planning anything here, provisioning included.

Dubrovnik is a guest-change port above all. Charters begin and end here because the airport is close and because no owner’s guests object to starting a holiday in front of the old city. That makes the cellar’s condition on changeover day the whole job, and we plan backward from the arrival rather than forward from the order.

Orders travel from our French cellar on EU logistics — Croatia is in the EU and the euro, so no customs frontier and no import paperwork — typically two to three working days from confirmation. From here the cruising runs north through the Elaphiti islands, Mljet and Korčula toward Hvar and Split, so this is a sensible place to load for a whole run rather than a week.

The Pelješac peninsula, which produces Croatia’s most serious red wine, begins an hour up the coast. Dingač is grown on slopes so steep the grapes were once brought down by donkey, and a good bottle of it in front of guests who have just walked the walls is a far better story than another Bordeaux. We carry it, along with Pošip, Grk from Lumbarda and the Istrian whites.