There are places where wine is made. And there are places like Vrbnik, where wine is part of the identity, the landscape, the family and everyday life.
In Vrbnik, Žlahtina is not just wine. Žlahtina is life.
That is exactly why, on 21 and 22 August, the whole of Vrbnik will once again live and breathe wine. The jubilee 20th Vrbnik Wine Days 2026 bring two days of wine, gastronomy, encounters with winemakers, expert workshops, new technologies, music and eno-gastronomic experiences, confirming the event’s status as the central wine happening of the island of Krk and the principal event dedicated to Žlahtina on the Kvarner.
The twentieth edition is much more than a jubilee. It shows how Vrbnik has grown from a place of long winegrowing and cooperative tradition into one of Croatia’s most recognisable wine destinations – with modern family wineries, well-developed wine tourism and wines that today win recognition at relevant national and international competitions.
At the centre of it all remains Vrbnik’s Žlahtina. Fresh, Mediterranean and inseparably bound to the island of Krk, Žlahtina has grown from a local wine into one of Croatia’s most recognisable autochthonous wine stories.
The Wine Days begin in the vineyard: flavescence dorée, education and the digitalisation of viticulture
Friday, 21 August | 10:00 | PZ Vrbnik, Namori 2
Before Vrbnik opens its cellars, squares and glasses to visitors, the Wine Days begin where every great wine is born – in the vineyard.
The Croatian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries – Directorate for Expert Support to Agricultural Development – is organising a workshop for winegrowers and vine owners dedicated to flavescence dorée, currently the most dangerous disease of the grapevine. Winegrowers will have the opportunity to learn, or revise, how to recognise the typical symptoms of flavescence dorée (FD), how to identify and distinguish its vector – the American grapevine leafhopper – and what obligations winegrowers and vine owners have in connection with this disease. The lecturers are Karmen Karlić and Dominik Gršković.
As part of the same expert programme, the results of the project “Implementation of a System for the Digitalisation of Winegrowing Production in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County” will also be presented. The project will be presented by ALTI AGRO d.o.o., and it was carried out in cooperation with members of the Kvarner Wines association, with financial support from Primorje-Gorski Kotar County for the producers involved. Multispectral imaging and analyses of vegetation indices were carried out in the vineyards, giving producers deeper insight into the state of the vegetation and the differences within individual vineyards. At selected sites, foliar feeding was also performed using an agricultural drone.
The morning expert programme of the Wine Days thus brings together, in one place, two key questions for the future of viticulture – vineyard protection and the application of new technologies.
Decanters from the Kvarner – The Best of Kvarner Wines: 14 wines as a cross-section of the new Kvarner wine scene
Friday, 21 August | 17:00 – 19:00 | Vinotel Gospoja
The afternoon is reserved for one of the expert highlights of the jubilee programme – the wine workshop “Decanters from the Kvarner – The Best of Kvarner Wines”. It is a kind of annual stocktaking of the quality of contemporary Kvarner winemaking and a unique opportunity to taste, in one place, wines that show how far this small and highly distinctive Croatian wine region has come in quality.
The workshop is led by Mate Negulić, Croatian sommelier vice-champion for 2025, and Josip Orišković, sommelier, educator and holder of the international A.S.I. diploma.
No fewer than 14 selected wines will be tasted:
- Valle Jaz – Vinarija Nada
- San Marino – Vinska kuća Pavlomir
- Ružić – OPG Ružić
- Plovanić Brut – Plovanić vina
- Belica – Vinarija Kapić
- Zlatna Vrbnička Žlahtina – PZ Vrbnik
- Žlahtina Mandić – Vina Mandić
- Žlahtina Pavlomir – Vinska kuća Pavlomir
- Sveta Lucija Žlahtina – Katunar Estate Winery
- Imolata – Katunar Estate Winery
- Sansigot – Kuća vina Ivan Katunar
- Cabernet Sauvignon – Gospoja
- Kapitul – Šipun Winery
- Muškat žuti – Vina Mandić
These fourteen wines offer an intriguing cross-section of the new Kvarner wine scene – from different interpretations of Žlahtina, through Belica and Sansigot, to sparkling wines, aromatic wines and serious red labels.
A special place belongs to Žlahtina, a variety that is showing ever more convincingly that it is not merely a fresh summer wine, but a variety capable of different styles and serious winemaking interpretations.
Places are limited and registration is required: registration for Decanters from the Kvarner.
The great fair of wine and autochthonous products: Kvarner and Slavonia at the same table
From 7 pm, Vrbnik changes rhythm. The expert tastings move out onto the streets and squares, and the town becomes a great open-air salon of wine, gastronomy and entertainment.
This year’s fair is particularly interesting because, alongside a strong Vrbnik and Kvarner line-up, it also gathers guests from Slavonia — so two great Croatian eno-gastronomic stories, the Mediterranean and Slavonia, will meet in Vrbnik.
The Vrbnik and Kvarner wine scene is represented by: Katunar Estate Winery, PZ Vrbnik, Kuća vina Ivan Katunar, Vina Gršković, PZ Gospoja, Vinarija Šipun, Kapić Vina, Vinarija Nada and OPG Tohoraj. They are joined by guest winemakers: Vinarija Kusić, OPG Martinov Aleksandar, Vinski podrum Pavlović, Vinarija Zajec and OPG M&M.
The wine will be accompanied by a serious offer of local and Slavonian products, traditional specialities and dishes. The fair also features Spud Food, the association “Tako je to nekad bilo”, Mariolina, Tramontana Wood Craft, OPG Goran Jančo, OPG Dario Dješka, OPG Tak slatko and OPG Mendula.
From 19:00 to 20:30 there is also a free carriage ride, while the ceremonial opening of the jubilee edition is scheduled for 9 pm on Škujica Square. The music programme begins at the same time: Klapa Kala on the Placa and the band Venus on Škujica Square, before Alen Vitasović takes the stage at 11 pm.
Vrbnik Wine Walk: six wineries, six stories and a whole day with wine
Saturday, 22 August 2026
The second day brings perhaps the best way to understand why Vrbnik is a special wine destination – the Vrbnik Wine Walk. This is not a tour of stands. You go straight to the winemakers, into their cellars, taverns and tasting rooms.
The day begins with a Slavonian breakfast on Škujica, followed by an almost full-day wine journey:
- 09:00 – 10:00 – gathering, collection of starter packs and Slavonian breakfast | Škujica
- 10:15 – 11:00 – PZ Vrbnik – presentation and wine tasting
- 11:15 – 12:15 – Kuća vina Ivan Katunar – guided tasting
- 12:30 – 13:30 – Katunar Estate Winery – presentation and tasting
- 13:45 – 15:30 – Vinarija Gospoja – eno-gastro programme
- 16:00 – 17:00 – Vinarija Nada – programme in the tavern
- 17:15 – 18:30 – Vinarija Šipun – tasting and presentation with a buffet on the Placa
Six wine stations, six different stories and almost an entire day during which wine is discovered through people, cellars, gastronomy, landscape and the place where it was born.
The number of participants is limited and registration is required: registration for the Vrbnik Wine Walk.
Saturday evening once again belongs to the fair and to music. From 9 pm, Trio Bajs performs on the Placa and Infinity Band on Škujica Square, before Koktelsi close the two-day Vrbnik wine festivity at 11 pm.
Vrbnik and Žlahtina – one of the most authentic wine stories of the Adriatic
Vrbnik has something that cannot be artificially produced in modern tourism, nor bought with a marketing budget – authenticity. It has vineyards and cellars, stone streets above the sea, local gastronomy, generations of winegrowers and winemakers, strong contemporary wineries and, above all, an autochthonous variety that has become the symbol of the whole town.
That is why the 20th Vrbnik Wine Days are not just another summer festival. They are a place where, in just two days, one can understand almost the entire life cycle of wine: from vineyard health, digitalisation and more precise production management, through expert tastings of the region’s best wines, to encounters between winemakers, gastronomy and the public, and visits to the cellars where the wine is born.
Because in Vrbnik, Žlahtina is not merely produced. It is planted. Picked. Nurtured. Talked about. Eaten alongside. Toasted with. Passed down through generations and offered to guests as part of the identity of the place.
In Vrbnik, Žlahtina is not just wine. Žlahtina is life.
The event is organised by the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Vrbnik, the Municipality of Vrbnik and Kvarner Wines, with partners: Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Kvarner Tourist Board, the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Vrbnik wineries, Osijek-Baranja County, Verbena d.o.o., Jamnica d.d. and Pekara Vrbnik d.o.o.
Photo: Srđan Hulag and Borut Brozović (Vrbnik Wine Days 2024)
