The 2026 Eco Wine Festival in Bedenica showed once again that the story of organic winemaking is no longer reserved for a narrow circle of producers and natural-wine lovers, but keeps spreading and building an ever-larger base of consumers who find added value in such wines. Authenticity, quality, care for the environment and tradition are increasingly prized.
What this project promotes is the fact that the focus is not only on the glass of wine, but on the whole process that leads to it. Winemakers have discovered how much knowledge, patience and dedication organic production demands. At a time when sustainability is often used as a marketing term, the Eco Wine Festival offers a chance to experience it through concrete examples and the personal stories of people who work in the vineyards every day.
The festival was preceded by a judging of wines received from Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria and Italy, assessed by experienced judges from Croatia and abroad. The wines were judged in six categories — sparkling, white, rosé, macerated, red and sweet. Among the sparkling wines, the Vivase Brut of the Međimurje winery Lovrec stood out. In the white category the win went to Slovenia, for the Rhine Riesling of the Frešer winery, while the best rosé was the Ramoro Pinot Grigio of Italy’s Cantina Orsogna. Among macerated wines, for the second time in a row the win went to the Serbian winery Plavinci for its Tamjanika, named Selena. The best red was the cuvée Karl Gustaf of the Škaulj winery from Nadin, and the best sweet wine the Traminac Orean 2023 late harvest of the Serbian winery Imperator — the only wine awarded Grand Gold (96 points) and the overall champion of the show. The best-rated wines can be seen below:
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Eco Wine Festival 2026 confirmed that events like this play an important role in developing wine culture. Visitors had the chance to taste wines of different styles, regions and production philosophies, from renowned producers to smaller family wineries — and such encounters often leave the strongest impression, because they reveal the diversity of the organic wine scene. With a slightly larger turnout of winemakers and the odd expert workshop, the Eco Wine Festival could take on a significant role in promoting organic winemaking.
