Tomac

The Tomac family has farmed wine in these hills for more than 200 years, but the winery as it exists today — bottling and selling under its own name — dates to 1987. Since then, under Tomislav Tomac and his family, it has become widely regarded as Croatia's most refined producer of sparkling wine, among the first in the country to focus seriously on the category.

The family is equally known for something more unusual: aging wine in clay amphorae, a technique borrowed from ancient Georgian winemaking, which has drawn international attention from critics including Decanter. Let's explore how a small hillside estate became Croatia's sparkling-wine benchmark.

200 Years of Family Wine, Reinvented: The History of Tomac

The Tomac family's connection to winemaking in the Plešivica hills stretches back more than two centuries, but the winery only began bottling and selling under its own name in 1987. That relatively recent commercial start didn't stop the family from becoming one of the most influential names in Croatian wine within a generation.

Tomislav Tomac, running the estate today alongside his wife and father, focused early on a category most Croatian producers had overlooked: sparkling wine. Plešivica's cool, hilly, continental climate — quite different from the sun-drenched Dalmatian coast most people picture when they think of Croatian wine — turned out to be genuinely well suited to it, and Tomac became one of the first Croatian wineries to pursue sparkling wine seriously.

In 2006, the family took an even less conventional step: fermenting and aging wine in clay amphorae, a technique borrowed from ancient Georgian winemaking traditions thousands of years old, letting the grape juice sit in contact with its skins for days or months to extract deeper flavour and colour.

The Taste: Sparkling Wine Meets Ancient Amphorae

Tomac's roughly 4 hectares of vineyard produce a genuinely distinctive range for such a small estate:

• Tomac Amfora: The winery's most celebrated wine — a sparkling white fermented and aged in clay amphorae, praised internationally including a mention among Decanter's most exciting wines of 2016.
• Traditional-method sparkling wines: The core of the estate's reputation as Croatia's leading sparkling wine producer, made using the same method as Champagne.
• Still amphora wines: Including an amber-hued Riesling aged in clay, showing the same skin-contact technique without the bubbles.

More Than Wine: Tomac's Place in Plešivica

• Croatia's sparkling wine pioneer: Few producers in the country have Tomac's depth of experience or reputation specifically in traditional-method sparkling wine.
• An internationally recognised amphora program: The family's clay-vessel wines connect Croatian winemaking to one of the world's oldest wine traditions, and have earned recognition from major critics abroad.
• Putting Plešivica on the map: As one of the region's most influential names, Tomac has helped establish Plešivica as a serious cool-climate wine destination distinct from Croatia's coastal reputation.

Perfect Pairings: Enjoying Tomac Wines with Continental Food

The estate's range suits both celebration and quiet contemplation:

• Tomac Amfora (sparkling): A fantastic aperitif, or pair it with soft cheeses and light seafood to let its bubbles and texture shine.
• Still amphora Riesling: Try it with richer poultry dishes or aged cheeses — the skin contact gives it enough structure to handle more than a typical white.

Finding Tomac Wines

• At the source: The family estate in Donja Reka, near Jastrebarsko, welcomes visitors for tastings — easily reached as a day trip from Zagreb.
• Across Croatia: Available at wine-focused restaurants and shops in Zagreb and beyond.
• Internationally: Tomac Amfora has reached specialty wine importers abroad on the strength of its international critical recognition.

Živjeli uz Tomac! To the family that proved Croatia's cool hillside country could make sparkling wine worth crossing continents for.