Since time immemorial, people in Dalmatia have been drinking bevanda - a mixture of water and wine. Because of that, the old saying “Adding water into the wine is a sin” is forcing us to always defend the honor of bevanda. Let's go a little bit back in history, to a time when the common people lived from agriculture and fishing, to a time when there was no electricity or mains water. Rainwater was collected from the roofs of houses and stored in wells. Days were filled with tough laboring jobs. In a climate such as ours, the summer heat is strong and heavy physical jobs demand drinking large amounts of fluids. That is reason why farmers made bevanda. They were not pouring water into wine (meaning that they were not committing a sin), but they poured the wine into water. Four parts of the water and one part of the wine. The result was a refreshing, energy beverage, which was mild enough for all day consumption.
Today, when life is a little easier, bevanda represents cultural heritage. In other words, although we will never give up from bevanda, we are very careful in the choice of a wine which is mixed with water.
