The Engineer, the Six Daughters & the Venetian Hand
Roxanich is the vision of Mladen Rožanić — a Swiss entrepreneur and mechanical engineer who, in his forties, returned to his ancient Venetian-Istrian roots to build one of the most uncompromising natural wineries in Europe. Founded in 1995 in the medieval hilltop town of Motovun, in the heart of Istria, Croatia, Roxanich is an artisan estate dedicated to rare, long-aged, premium natural wines from the red soils of the Adriatic. The estate spans ~70 acres of single-estate vineyards in Bušura and Bačva, producing only ~70,000 bottles per year across more than 20 labels. Mladen runs the winery personally with his six daughters — the Sorelle — whose names grace some of the estate's most celebrated cuvées. Every wine is a reflection of biodynamic philosophy, extended maceration, and radical patience: reds macerate for 4 to 8 weeks, whites and oranges from one day up to six months, and all wines are aged for years in large wooden vats before release. The result is a portfolio of honest but big wines — amber, orange, deep red, and blushing pink — that have redefined what Istrian natural wine can be on the world stage.
The Engineer, the Six Daughters & the Istrian Hand
Mladen Rožanić was not born in a cellar. He was a mechanical engineer and Swiss entrepreneur — a man of systems, precision, and global business. But beneath the engineer's logic burned a passion for wine that ignited in 1998, when he vinified his first vintage alone in a private garage. He was in his forties. The challenge took him over completely. What began as a passion project evolved into one of the most avant-garde wineries in Europe — a family estate run personally by Mladen and his six daughters, the Sorelle, whose names appear on some of the estate's most iconic labels.
The Rožanić family traces its roots to ancient Venetian heritage from the 1200s — a lineage that informs the winery's coat of arms and its deep connection to the cultural crossroads of Istria. Mladen describes himself as an outsider in the wine business, a self-educated winemaker who engaged on a global pilgrimage of different houses before settling back in his native Istria. He is perhaps best described as the first movie director of wine — creating spaces for taste-jumps never seen before, delicate and elegant, unified in one single glass. No winemaker has shaped the natural wine scene like Mladen Rožanić in recent years. With a maximum of knowledge, he brings wines to bottles with a minimum of intervention.
The guiding philosophy is "Freedom by Nature" — a statement inspired by Rudolf Steiner's teachings about nature and personal freedom, and by the family's belief that honest, natural winemaking is the only path to authentic quality. Mladen does not yearn after formal perfection. He is obsessed with the soul of wine. Each vintage develops its own narrative, its own role. The wine remains intentionally unsharp and unfinished — because nature itself is honest, raw yet delicate. This is not industrial winemaking; it is Istrian viticulture as cinematic art.
"Patience is a fantastic cellar technique. Because wines need time to find each other."
— Mladen Rožanić, Roxanich
Motovun, the Mirna Valley & the Terra Rossa Hand
Motovun is a medieval hilltop town in the heart of Istria, Croatia — a heart-shaped peninsula in the northern Adriatic, shared with Italy and Slovenia. Known as the "Tuscany of Croatia" for its rolling hills, truffle-rich forests, and ancient walled towns, Istria is one of Europe's most exciting natural wine frontiers. Roxanich's vineyards are located in the villages of Bušura and Bačva, on historically valued lays recognized since ancient times as "best grounds" — Mondellebotte, Bussure, and Valle. These south-east to south-west-oriented slopes sit 200 metres above sea level, just inland from the Adriatic coast, and benefit from a classical thermal exchange: cold winds blow from the mountains towards the sea at night, and from the sea back inland in the afternoon.
The soils are the legendary terra rossa of "Red Istria" — striking red, iron-rich limestone soil with neutral acidity and high minerality. This is not the fertile alluvium of the plains; it is the rocky, mineral soil of a land that has been prized for viticulture since the Venetians. The vineyards cover a little under 70 acres (26+ hectares), but production is deliberately limited to about 70,000 bottles per year depending on the vintage. Grapes are farmed using organic and biodynamic principles — only natural elements like copper and sulphur are admitted in minimal quantities in the vineyard. Picking is based on organoleptic assessment, with attention paid to moon phases and days dictated by Maria Thun's biodynamic calendar.
The property operates as a closed-loop biodynamic system in the tradition of Rudolf Steiner. The goal is not just to grow grapes but to build soil health, increase biodiversity, and create a self-sustaining ecosystem where the vineyard is part of a larger agricultural whole. The slopes are gentle, with light breezes even at the height of summer, and the proximity to the sea shore — yet 200 metres above it — creates a microclimate of cool nights and warm days that is ideal for slow, balanced ripening. For Mladen, the vineyard is not just a source of grapes; it is a living archive of Venetian-Istrian history.
Motovun is a walled medieval town perched on a hilltop in the Mirna River valley, surrounded by forests famous for white truffles. It is the spiritual and physical centre of the Roxanich project — a place where ancient Rome, Venice, France, Austria-Hungary, and Yugoslavia have all left their mark. The town's co-operative winery, dating back to 1902, now forms part of the Roxanich Wine & Design Hotel. For Mladen, Motovun represents the crossroads of memory — a mix of cultures that enriches the heritage, tradition, and identity of the wine. The hilltop location provides spectacular views of the Istrian landscape and a sense of timelessness that permeates the cellar below.
The Roxanich cellar is located inside the hill, directly beneath the Design Hotel, spanning nearly 10,000 square feet across four levels. Each floor is dedicated to a specific part of the winemaking process: vinification and maceration, ageing, archiving, and the grand tasting room at the pinnacle. The cellar is a masterpiece of design by renowned architect Idis Turato. Giant oak caskets are played classical music 24/7. The subterranean location provides natural temperature regulation and a profound sense of quiet — a space where time moves slowly and wines are allowed to harmonize on their own. This is not a factory; it is a temple to patience.
The soils at Roxanich are the famous terra rossa of Red Istria — red, iron-rich limestone with neutral acidity and high minerality. This soil composition is perfect for growing the region's signature varietals: Malvasia Istriana, Teran, and Borgonja. The red soil stresses the vines, forces deep rooting, and imparts a signature mineral clarity and iron-driven structure to the wines. The slight slopes of 5 to 7 degrees, open to wind exchange typical for the west coast of Istria, ensure healthy vines and balanced ripening. This is not the easy soil of the plains; it is the demanding, ancient soil of a place that has been making wine for 2,500 years.
From the beginning, Roxanich has followed biodynamic principles guided by Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and Maria Thun's calendar. In the vineyard, only copper and sulphur are used in minimal quantities. In the cellar, sulphur is added only symbolically when needed. But the defining feature of Roxanich is time. Mladen quickly realized that his wines had great potential for ageing, and he established a vision of seven years as the embodiment of biodynamic maturity — the cycle of maturity, the school age of a child, the days of the week, the recovery period for cells. Wines are aged in large wooden vats and barrels (55 to 75 hectolitres) to minimize wood contact and reduce hydrolysable tannin emissions. The barrels are treated only with natural beeswax. Synthetic chemicals are absent. This is winemaking as our forebears would recognize and approve.
The Maceration, the Large Vats & the Patient Hand
Mladen Rožanić's winemaking philosophy is rooted in radical patience and minimal intervention. In the cellar, wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured with their own tannins, derived exclusively from pits, skins, and eventually stems of each grape. This guarantees a natural body, nose, and mouth-feel that Mladen maintains are inimitable and irreplaceable. There is no temperature control — the wines ferment at their own pace, dictated by the ambient conditions of the subterranean cellar. There is no filtration — clarity and stability are achieved purely by time of ageing.
The cellar arsenal is deliberately chosen to minimize wood influence: large wooden vats and barrels of 55 to 75 hectolitres capacity, plus 36-hectolitre casks. These large vessels minimize the area of contact between wood and grape, greatly reducing the infusion of wood tannins into the wine. The barrels and vats are reused as long as the wood remains healthy, further reducing hydrolysable tannin emissions. The result places the wood in its intended role: a micro-oxygenation membrane that introduces oxygen into the wine in a natural and controlled manner. Synthetic chemicals are absent. Sulphites are kept to minimal, necessary amounts. The barrels are treated only with natural beeswax.
The defining technique is extended maceration. Grapes are vinified in specially shaped barrels and wooden vats where fermentation and maceration take place. After pressing and first decanting, the wine is racked into the same vats or 36-hectolitre casks where it is kept to age and mature for years. The maceration duration varies from vintage to vintage: 4 to 8 weeks for the reds, and for the whites and oranges from one day up to six months. Mladen never tries to repeat the taste of the previous year. He tries to give his interpretation of the vintage — honest, raw yet delicate, as nature itself. The only concession to modernity is a little sulphur prior to bottling, if necessary.
The Maceration Covenant & the Seven-Year Vision
The guiding principle of Mladen's cellar is that the best wine is the one that needs the least intervention and the most time. The indigenous yeast fermentation captures the microbial fingerprint of the Istrian terra rossa and ensures a healthy, spontaneous fermentation without commercial inoculation. The absence of temperature control allows the wine to evolve at its own pace, preserving delicate aromatics and natural acidity. The absence of filtration keeps the wine's living texture and microbial complexity intact. The large wooden vats — 55 to 75 hectolitres — act not as flavouring agents but as gentle oxygenation membranes, allowing the wine to breathe and integrate over years. The extended maceration — up to six months for whites, creating profound orange and amber wines — extracts phenolics, tannins, and colour from the skins, resulting in wines of extraordinary depth, structure, and ageing potential. And the seven-year ageing vision, inspired by Rudolf Steiner's biodynamics, gives each wine the time it needs to harmonize, find itself, and become a complete, well-balanced elixir of life. The cellar is a quiet, dark space where an engineer lets the terra rossa, the Mirna valley fog, and the Adriatic breeze do the talking.
Malvasia, Teran, Orange & the Istrian Hand
The Roxanich portfolio is deliberately expansive — more than 20 labels across three distinct collections: First Roses (young and fresh), Sorelle (long-macerated amber and orange wines named after the six daughters), and Philosophy (premium aged reds). The wines range from pale gold to glowing amber, from blushing pink to deep red and all the hues in between. The estate works with both indigenous Istrian varieties — Malvasia Istriana, Teran, Borgonja Istriana — and international grapes including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Vermentino, Glera, Friulano, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling Italico. All are made with indigenous yeasts, minimal sulphur, no filtration, and extended ageing — wines that are honest, big, and deeply expressive of their place.
The Engineer's Dream, the Biodynamic Moon & the Istrian Hand
Roxanich is not merely a winery; it is a dream realised — the story of how a mechanical engineer and Swiss entrepreneur, guided by six daughters and a 13th-century Venetian coat of arms, built a biodynamic temple to patience on a hill beneath the medieval town of Motovun. In an era when Croatian wine was defined by volume, youth, and commercial homogenisation, Mladen Rožanić demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from 70 acres of red limestone soil, fermented with indigenous yeasts, macerated for months, aged for years in giant wooden vats, and bottled without filtration. It is largely thanks to projects like Roxanich that Istrian orange wine, long-aged natural wine, and biodynamic Adriatic viticulture now have a place in the global natural wine conversation. The same hilltop town that tourists visit for truffles and views has become, through his work, a source of some of the most honest, big, and terroir-driven wines in Europe.
The legacy of Roxanich is the legacy of the patient hand in Croatian viticulture. Mladen is not a typical winery founder: he is a self-educated mechanical engineer who built a four-level cellar into a hillside, who ages rosé for four or five years, who gives his wines seven years to mature, who follows Maria Thun's biodynamic calendar, who treats his barrels with beeswax, and who believes that the best wine is the one that depicts reality itself rather than promising an ideal interpretation. He does not chase volume. He does not chase trends. He makes more than 20 wines — each one a different narrative, a different role, a different daughter of the vintage — and he makes them with the same precision and vision that defined his former career. The minimal sulphur is not a compromise; it is a practical minimum that allows the wine to travel without masking its Istrian soul.
The future of the project is tied to the future of biodynamic viticulture and long-aged natural wine on the Adriatic coast — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the youngest barrels but from the most committed guardians of red soil, fog, and ancient Venetian memory. As the Sorelle collection continues to set the benchmark for amber and orange wine in Croatia, as the Ines wines prove that Istria can produce wines of world-class ageing potential, and as the Design Hotel brings a new generation of wine lovers to the Mirna valley, Mladen Rožanić remains what he has always intended to be: an engineer who became an artist — a man who trusted the soil, the moon, and the six daughters, and who built something enduring on a hill beneath a medieval town. The dream is not finished. It is just beginning to age.
"I never try to repeat the taste of the previous year. I try to give my interpretation of the vintage."
— Mladen Rožanić, Roxanich