The launch of the book Wine Stories of Hrvatsko Zagorje was held on 23 February 2025 at the Hotel Matija Gubec in Stubicke Toplice. It is a project of Krapina-Zagorje County, which commissioned the well-known wine writer Zeljko Garmaz to write a book about the stories of the most renowned Zagorje winemakers. The presentation was attended by the winemakers featured in the book and by representatives of Zagorje’s wine and viticultural associations. They were all welcomed at the outset by County Prefect Zeljko Kolar, the mayor of Stubicke Toplice Josip Beljak, and the president of the Vino Zagorje association, while the book was presented by author Zeljko Garmaz and the writer of the foreword, Radovan Marcic.
Zagorje has always known that the true value of wine lies not only in its taste, but also in the stories it carries. And thanks to Zeljko Garmaz, those stories are now told honestly, with soul and with love, said County Prefect Zeljko Kolar, stressing that today one can proudly say the Zagorje winemakers are recognised far beyond the borders of Krapina-Zagorje County. Their wines have for years been winning gold medals at prestigious international competitions, such as London’s Decanter, and they rightly take their place alongside the best in the world. Every award, every medal, every recognition is confirmation not only of quality, but also of the spirit that has dwelt in Zagorje for centuries, a spirit that knows no surrender, the prefect added.
The book’s author, Zeljko Garmaz, is a journalist, travel writer and humanitarian who has become one of Croatia’s most recognisable chroniclers of wine and winemakers. He has written a series of Wine Stories, books dedicated to the winemakers and wines of Dalmatia, Slavonia and the Croatian Danube region, Istria and Kvarner, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jezera, and now Hrvatsko Zagorje as well. The publisher is Vinske Price of Osijek, the photographs are by Emica Elvedi, and the cover was designed by Vedran Klemens. The book was printed by Sluzbeni Glasnik of Krapina.
It was only a question of when the turn would come for Hrvatsko Zagorje, which has intrigued me since my first visits here some 15 years ago. When I focused on Zagorje, I was, to put it mildly, thrilled by how much this area has advanced in the quality of the wines produced here. You can be proud of what you have, said Garmaz, emphasising that the book is not a dry recitation of facts but a collection of the winemakers’ life stories. These are the life stories of people who have entered this very serious and demanding business. There are more and more serious businesspeople here who decide to have their own winery as a kind of calling card, at least at first, and then later realise that it is also a very serious business that can contribute to the development, and indeed the rise, of the entire region, the author concluded.
The author of the foreword, the well-known Croatian gastronome and publicist Radovan Marcic, noted that he grew up with the understanding that Zagorje wine is something exceptionally valuable and important for the Croatian wine scene. Hrvatsko Zagorje has the largest number of vineyard plots in the country and nearly three thousand winemakers. That tells you the very flower of winemaking is here, and that strength and diversity are gathered in this book too. The whole idea is for Zagorje to have a greater media presence, and for the quality and the problems of the winemakers to be more clearly recognised. The Wine Stories of Hrvatsko Zagorje are not just texts about wines, but portraits of the winemakers and the people behind every bottle, said Marcic, adding that he personally likes to know whose wine he is drinking. Wine is mostly discussed from an oenological and sommelier standpoint: aromas, front and back palate, the tongue and so on. But Garmaz found the formula: behind the wine stands a person. Who is that person? Who makes this wine? What is written on the label means nothing to me. But it means a great deal to me when I know the winemaker, he concluded.
The president of the Vino Zagorje association, Jasminka Sasko, stressed that the book is an important contribution to promoting the wine scene of the entire region: We are witnesses to the fact that viticulture across the whole region has been following trends for years and that we are truly highly positioned on the wine scene. The book presents almost all the most important winemakers of Hrvatsko Zagorje, their beginnings, their stages of development and their awards, which have in fact confirmed all their effort and work, said Sasko. The book contains the stories of 18 winemakers, or winemaking families. They are Tomislav Bolfan, Dragutin and Darko Bratkovic, Boris Drenski, Ervin Drenski, Josip and Nikola Grozaj, Valentino Herceg, Filip Hren, Igor Jambresic, Tihomir Kota, Mladen Micak, Ivan and Filip Petrisic, Tomislav Petrovecki, Nenad Posavec, Milivoj Prekratic; Zvonko, Filip and Jakov Sever; Boris Vuglec, Robert Zdolc and Sinisa Znika.
Text and photographs: Krapina-Zagorje County
26 February 2026
