The Marble Hill, the Spotted Grape & the Animal Crew
Vina Glavica is the small family winery of Antun Glavica, perched atop Mramor Hill — the Marble Hill — in Repušnica, near Gornja Gračenica in Moslavina, the gentle wine region in the hills of Moslavačka gora south of Zagreb. The family's story here began in 1968, when the property was bought; the first harvest came in 1970, and for decades wine was made the old way — for the family's own needs. That long tradition of personal winemaking grew into a still greater love, and in 2015 the family formalised the estate as OPG Glavica. What followed was a quiet revolution: the first certified-organic wine producer in Moslavina, the maker of the first Škrlet — Croatia's and the world's — to carry an organic label, and, in 2023, the first winery in Croatia to achieve Demeter certification for both biodynamic winegrowing AND biodynamic winemaking in the cellar. The sun-drenched hilltop looks out over Lonjsko polje, and the vineyard team is unlike any other: a flock of geese and ducks that devours the snails, and a ram and two sheep that work like small bio-machines — mowing the grass, fertilising the soil, keeping the vines airy. Antun farms by the principles of Rudolf Steiner, experiments with PIWI fungal-resistant varieties that need no spraying at all, raises his Škrlet in amphora, and uses, as he puts it, only a little bit of sulfur and nothing else. The Škrlet has already won Decanter gold. The family team list reads like a fairy tale — managers, consultants, a head of vehicle fleet, a head of kitchen, an entertainer, and Ogi the herd guardian — because that is what this is: a family, a hill, and a spotted grape, farmed in perfect harmony of nature, people and animals.
From Family Table to Demeter & the Long Way Up the Hill
The Glavica family's relationship with Mramor Hill is measured in decades, not vintages. The property was bought in 1968; the first harvest came in 1970. For generation after generation, the family grew vines and made wine for personal needs — the traditional Croatian farm pattern, where wine is not a business but a birthright, made for the family table, the Sunday lunch, the celebration. It was precisely this long tradition, as the family tells it, that grew into a still greater love — and prompted them to expand.
In 2015, the estate was formally established as OPG Glavica — a boutique family winery at the very top of Mramor Hill, on Vinogradska Street in Gornja Gračenica. The expansion proved a good decision: the wines began winning gold, silver and bronze medals at competitions, and the family set out on a path that would make them pioneers. The first animals arrived in 2016. Organic certification followed in 2019 — making Glavica the first certified-organic wine producer in Moslavina and its Škrlet the first Croatian, and world, Škrlet with an organic label. Then, in 2023, came the crown: the Demeter certificate, the highest standard of organic agriculture recognised worldwide — and not just for the vineyard. Vina Glavica became the first winery in Croatia Demeter-certified for both biodynamic winegrowing and biodynamic winemaking, cellar practices included.
At the helm is Antun Glavica — manager and winemaker — working alongside Ivan, with mama and tata as consultants, Klaudia on marketing and sales, and the youngest generation in roles that tell you everything about the place: Teon, head of vehicle fleet; Aria, head of kitchen; Ivan, entertainer; Maris, the boss; and Ogi, guardian of the herd. The transition to biodynamic production was, in the family's words, a natural step in their philosophy — the Demeter certificate merely the crown of years of continuous investment in environmentally friendly cultivation, rooted in the belief that authenticity and character come directly from healthy soil and a harmonious relationship with nature.
"You could have a Demeter wine that's not natural, but we only use a little bit of sulfur and nothing else."
— Antun Glavica, Vina Glavica
Mramor Hill, Lonjsko Polje & the Sun-Drenched Hand
Moslavina is one of Croatia's most quietly beautiful wine regions — the rolling hills of Moslavačka gora south of Zagreb, a landscape of forests, medieval castles and vineyard-crowned ridges, known for quality wines and scenic wine roads. Its soils are clay and limestone, its climate cooler and continental, and its signature grape something found almost nowhere else on earth: Škrlet, the indigenous white whose name means "little scar" for the distinctive red spots that appear on the ripe grape skins.
At the very top of Mramor Hill — Marble Hill, Marmor Collis in the Latin that names two of the estate's wines — in the village of Repušnica, the Glavica vineyards sit fully exposed to the sun, with a breathtaking view over Lonjsko polje, the great protected wetland plain of the Sava river, and far beyond. It is the kind of tasting spot that completes the experience for anyone seeking rest in nature with a glass of wine: elevation, exposition, and a horizon that seems to have no end. The hilltop position gives the vines air, light and drainage — the natural allies of any grower who wants to farm without chemical crutches.
But the true singularity of the Glavica vineyard is who works it. Following the principles of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Antun has assembled a living crew: a flock of geese and ducks patrols the rows, feasting on the snails that would otherwise need pellets; a ram and two sheep graze between the vines like small bio-machines, keeping the grass short, the soil fertilised, and the vineyard well-aired for better yields. All varieties are grown without pesticides or chemicals; preparations and techniques follow biodynamic practice; and in an experimental section of the vineyard, Antun has planted PIWI varieties — fungus-resistant crossings that require no spraying whatsoever, an insurance policy for a climate-changed future. This is biodynamics not as marketing but as daily choreography — a farm where, as the family says, the team is a perfect harmony of nature, people and animals.
Moslavina, south of Zagreb, is a region of forested hills, castle ruins and vineyard ridges — the wine country of Moslavačka gora. Clay-and-limestone soils and a cooler continental climate give wines of freshness and definition, a world away from the Adriatic heat. The region's treasure is Škrlet, the indigenous spotted white found almost nowhere else. Vina Glavica stands at the movement's forefront: the first certified-organic wine producer in Moslavina, and the maker of the world's first organically certified Škrlet — proof that this quiet region can lead, not follow.
Mramor brdo — Marble Hill — rises above Repušnica near Gornja Gračenica, its summit sun-drenched from morning to evening. From the top, the view sweeps over Lonjsko polje, the vast protected floodplain of the Sava, one of Europe's great wetlands. The elevation brings constant air movement and light; the name brings history — the estate bottles two wines under the Latin Marmor Collis in its honour. It is a place that seems designed for tasting: nature, silence, horizon, and a glass of Škrlet grown metres away.
The vineyard crew at Glavica has feathers and hooves. Geese and ducks — who adore eating snails — handle pest control without a single pellet. A ram and two sheep work as small bio-machines: mowing the grass, fertilising the soil, and keeping the vineyard airy so the vines stay healthy and yields improve. The animals arrived in 2016, three years before organic certification, and they are listed on the estate's team page alongside the family — mowing, fertilising, weeding. This is biodynamic farming you can actually see from the tasting terrace.
Škrlet — the little scarred one, named for the red spots on its ripe skins — is Moslavina's indigenous white, and Glavica's is its benchmark: the world's first certified-organic Škrlet, now Demeter-certified, and a Decanter gold medal winner. Alongside this heritage work, Antun looks forward: an experimental vineyard block of PIWI varieties — fungus-resistant crossings that need no spraying at all — is his answer to climate change and his bet on the next fifty years of sustainable viticulture. The estate's Marmor Collis white is already a blend of six PIWI varieties.
The Steiner Principles, the Amphora & the Berry-by-Berry Hand
In the Glavica cellar, the Demeter certificate hangs on the wall — but it is not the point. As Antun puts it: "You could have a Demeter wine that's not natural, but we only use a little bit of sulfur and nothing else." The distinction matters. Demeter certifies a way of farming and a discipline of cellar practice; what Antun adds is a personal ethic of radical restraint — no enzymes, no selected yeasts, no corrections, nothing beyond the smallest necessary whisper of sulphur. The vines are grown by Steiner's principles; the wines are made by the oldest principle of all: let healthy grapes become wine.
The centrepiece of the cellar is amphora — the clay vessels in which the estate raises its most personal wines, including the Škrlet Amfora. Amphora work demands fruit of absolute health, and here Antun's honesty about natural winemaking shines: "Some years when the grapes are not 100 percent healthy because of hailstorms or something, we need to manually pick only the good berries to put in the amphora." Berry-by-berry selection, by hand, in the years nature demands it — the unglamorous reality behind the romantic vessel. Amber in colour, textured, alive, these are the wines that have put Moslavina on the natural wine map.
The range moves from the traditional to the exploratory. The Škrlet — the Decanter gold-medal flagship, deep amber with quince, pear, apple zest and white pepper — is the variety's global reference. The Graševina carries the continental classic in clean, biodynamic form. The Marmor Collis wines — white from six PIWI varieties, red alongside — bottle the future under the hill's Latin name. There is Muškat žuti (Yellow Muscat) for aromatics, and a Frankovka (Blaufränkisch) presented en primeur, left to age the years it deserves before release. Each wine is, in the family's words, the result of putting all your energy and effort into something you love — where the result is simply unavoidable.
The Demeter Crown & the Nothing-Else Rule
The guiding principle of Vina Glavica is that certification is a floor, not a ceiling. First organic winery in Moslavina; world's first organic Škrlet; first Croatian winery Demeter-certified for both the vineyard AND the cellar — and still, in the cellar, the rule is simpler than any standard: a little bit of sulfur and nothing else. Geese and ducks instead of snail pellets; sheep instead of mowers; Steiner's preparations instead of chemistry; PIWI vines instead of sprays; amphora instead of makeup; berry-by-berry hand selection in the difficult years. The 1968 property, the 1970 first harvest, the decades of family-table wine — all of it flows into bottles that carry health from soil to glass. This is what happens when a family farm decides that the old love deserves the highest discipline on earth.
Škrlet, Marmor Collis, Frankovka & the Biodynamic Hand
The Glavica portfolio spans white, amber and red — from the historic Škrlet to the amphora wines to the PIWI blends of Marmor Collis. All are certified biodynamic (Demeter, 2023) from an estate certified organic since 2019, made with a little sulphur and nothing else. Medal-winning at competitions in gold, silver and bronze, with the Škrlet's Decanter gold as the international headline.
The 1968 Hill, the Demeter Crown & the Family Hand
Vina Glavica is not merely a winery; it is a proof of concept for an entire region — the story of a family that made wine for its own table for nearly half a century, then decided to show what Moslavina could do at the highest level of organic discipline on earth. In an era when biodynamics is often a coastal affectation or a marketing costume, Antun Glavica made it a family practice: the first certified-organic wine producer in Moslavina, the world's first organic Škrlet, and in 2023 the first winery in Croatia Demeter-certified for both the vineyard and the cellar. It is largely thanks to pioneers like Glavica — and neighbours like Kosovec — that Moslavina and "Hilly Croatia" now have a place in the natural wine conversation, and that the spotted Škrlet grape has a Decanter gold medal to its name.
The legacy of Vina Glavica is the legacy of the whole farm as the winemaker. Antun is not a typical modern vintner: he is a Steiner-principled farmer whose vineyard crew includes geese, ducks, a ram and two sheep; whose team page lists his children as head of vehicle fleet, head of kitchen, entertainer and boss; whose answer to difficult vintages is to select berries by hand for the amphora; and whose answer to climate change is an experimental block of PIWI vines that need no spraying at all. He does not chase volume. He does not chase fashion. He makes Škrlet, Škrlet Amfora, Graševina, Marmor Collis, Frankovka and Muškat Žuti — each one biodynamic to the cellar, each one made with a little sulphur and nothing else. The doors, as the family says, are always open.
The future of the project is tied to the future of Moslavina's hills and its singular grape — to the next generation already playing at being the team, to the PIWI experiment that may define the region's resilience, and to the visitors who climb Mramor Hill for a glass of Škrlet above Lonjsko polje. As the Demeter-certified wines travel from the hilltop to wine bars in Zagreb and beyond, as the amphora Škrlet deepens the world's understanding of the spotted grape, and as the geese patrol another dawn between the rows, Vina Glavica remains what it set out to be: a family in harmony with nature and animals — a winery that trusted the hill, the old love, and the spotted grape, and crowned half a century of family wine with the highest certificate on earth. The tradition was decades old. The recognition is just beginning.
"Some years when the grapes are not 100 percent healthy because of hailstorms or something, we need to manually pick only the good berries to put in the amphora."
— Antun Glavica, Vina Glavica