A small circle of devoted Riesling lovers tasted five Rieslings from the Stručić winery of the Ludbreg vineyards in late summer, from the 2022 vintage back to 2016. All showed well: the youngsters delighted with their crisp freshness, while those from the previous decade confirmed that Riesling only gets better with age. You can read about that walk almost a decade into the past here, and the wines of Sanja and Tomislav Stručić will be at the Rizling Raj(n)ski festival, which opens at 6 p.m. on Saturday, 22 November, at Zagreb’s Hotel Capital, Jurišićeva 22.
From Ludbreg, Hotel Capital also welcomes the DeMar winery, named after the initials of co-owners Dejan Levanček and Mario Funtek, which has grown into one of Croatia’s leading Riesling producers. Here the spotlight fell on Rieslings between the 2018 and 2023 vintages. All share almost identical character: lively, greenish in hue, with true varietal aromas and flavours, pronounced freshness and high extract. The riper vintages showed how Dejan’s and Mario’s Rieslings gain complexity, aromatic layering and depth on the palate over time. 
We have often written about the Kopjar and Bolfan wines from the wider Novi Marof area, so now we can only urge every festival visitor to stop by their stands and enjoy, while Vina Najman arrives at Capital from Varaždinske Toplice, some 15 kilometres away. Once you get to know a vineyard and see what it wants and what it needs, it delivers good results too, says Dragutin Najman. Besides Riesling, the family winery grows Graševina, Moslavac, Sauvignon, Muškat Žuti (Yellow Muscat), as well as Pinot Noir and Portugizac.
The western side of Zagorje at Rizling Raj(n)ski will be represented by the Vuglec and Sokač wineries. Vuglec Breg is a tourist village in Škarićevo near Krapina, with luxury cottages named — after the people to whom they once belonged — Lac, Mica, Dragec, Imbra, Jana and Jagica. Among the Vuglec wines, Riesling holds a special place. A serene Riesling. It has no overpowering flavour or aroma and seems made for long, unhurried enjoyment. Riesling, Graševina, Sauvignon, Muškat Žuti, Traminac (Gewürztraminer), then Frankovka (Blaufränkisch), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zweigelt are the varieties Ivan Sokač grows in Stubički Strmec on the Zagorje slopes of Medvednica. His bone-dry Riesling 2015 is well remembered — honest, clean, precise and, above all, deliciously drinkable on the palate. 
Seven Zagorje vintners are already invitation enough for Saturday’s Rizling Raj(n)ski festival, about which you can read more here.
18 November 2025
