Martinje in Croatia 2026: where to celebrate St Martin's Day

Martinje, the feast of Saint Martin on 11 November, is the day the new must is symbolically turned into wine in Croatia. In cellars, village halls and town squares a mock bishop delivers a playful sermon, baptises the must, proclaims it wine and gives it a godfather, and then the toasts, the singing and the roast goose follow. It is a religious feast played for laughs and taken seriously at the same time, and for a visitor it is the easiest way into Croatian wine country after the harvest, when the coast has gone quiet but the cellars have not.

In 2026, 11 November falls on a Wednesday. Martinje is not a public holiday: the Croatian holidays act lists 1 November and 18 November for this month, not St Martin's Day, so shops, offices and public transport run as usual. Public celebrations are therefore spread over the days around the feast, and the programmes published so far run from Saturday 7 to Sunday 15 November.

Confirmed dates for 2026

By mid-October 2026 the tourist boards in Istria had published three Martinje events with fixed dates. For Zagreb, Zagorje, Plešivica and Slavonia no 2026 programme was listed yet; the sections below say where to check.

How the must is baptised

The ceremony follows a loose script. The Croatian National Tourist Board describes a cast led by the bishop, who gives a comic speech, baptises the must and proclaims it wine, with a godfather and other characters around him; after that the gathering turns to toasts, songs and home cooking. In Kumrovec in Zagorje the baptism is carried out by the Cesargrad wine masters, and each year a godfather and a godmother are chosen for the new wine. When Zagreb celebrated on its main square in 2014, for the 14th year in a row, around 15 Martinje bishops from across Croatia walked in procession to Ban Jelačić Square, and the deputy mayor stood as godmother to the young wine.

Behind the joke sits a real farming calendar. Researchers at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb describe Martinje in north-west Croatia as the feast that closed the year's work in the fields and vineyards. According to ethnographic records it was once kept by a few village families linked by kinship or neighbourhood; today the baptism of the must is a tourist attraction celebrated by the wider community. The saint himself, Martin of Tours, was born in Savaria, today's Szombathely in Hungary, in 316 and died in Tours in 397, and Croatian Glagolitic breviaries of the 14th and 15th centuries already contain his legend and mark his feast on 11 November.

Istria: malvazija, teran and five days in Momjan

Istria is where the 2026 dates are clearest. The Istria Tourist Board describes Martinje as the day the young wine that has just finished fermenting is baptised, with the whole peninsula drinking its own wines, above all white malvazija and red teran, in cellars and konobas. Its pages also record two old beliefs: Martinje marked the line between summer and winter, and the winemaker who pours the most wine on the day will have the best wine the following year.

Momjan is the pick for cellar hopping: five days from Wednesday to Sunday in a hill village north of Buje near the Slovenian border, where the local speciality is sweet muscat. Pula is the pick without a car: three evenings at Giardini in the city centre, and in 2025 the same event brought together 10 wineries from southern Istria. Vrsar honours St Martin as its patron, so its feast is also a church and village day; in 2024 the programme ran from Saturday 9 to Monday 11 November with choirs on Trg Degrassi, an Istrian soup competition and Mass in the parish church of St Martin on the feast day itself. For 2026 only the bike ride on 7 November has been announced so far.

Zagreb and the Plešivica hills

Plešivica, in the hills above Jastrebarsko, is the wine country closest to Zagreb that is set up for visitors. The Plešivica wine road opened in 2001, and the Zagreb County Tourist Board counts more than 30 wineries along it. The local wine calendar runs from Vincekovo on 22 January to Martinje on 11 November, and the wine to ask for is portugizac, a young red that is the first to reach the market after the harvest. Read the small print in the Jastrebarsko tourist guide: several family wineries receive guests by appointment only, so phone before you drive up. Jastrebarsko itself lies halfway between Zagreb and Karlovac, on the railway line that links the two cities.

Zagreb's own Martinje has in past years been held on Ban Jelačić Square, with stalls run by winemakers from the city and Zagreb County; in 2014 there were around 20 of them. No programme for 2026 had been announced by mid-October, so check the City of Zagreb's announcements in early November.

Zagorje and Međimurje

In Hrvatsko zagorje the custom stays closest to its village roots. Kumrovec holds Martinje v Kumrovcu every November, organised by the local winegrowers' association Grozd together with the municipality, the tourist board and the Staro selo museum. The museum is the largest in-situ open-air ethnographic museum in Croatia, with about 30 traditional houses and farm buildings, including the birth house of Josip Broz Tito, so the setting does half the work. Further north, Croatia's national tourist board listed Martinje on the Međimurje wine road in Štrigova from 11 to 13 November 2022. Neither village had published a 2026 date by mid-October.

Slavonia

The national tourist board names Slavonia alongside Zagorje among the wine regions where Martinje is a deeply rooted tradition. No Slavonian programme for 2026 had been published by mid-October, so treat the east as a place for a cellar visit arranged directly with a winery rather than for a fixed festival date. Keep in mind that 18 November, a week after Martinje, is the national day of remembrance for the victims of the Homeland War and for Vukovar and Škabrnja, a public holiday with a very different mood in the east of the country.

What is on the table

Roast goose with mlinci, thin dried flatbread soaked in the juices of the roast, is the classic Martinje meal, followed by chestnuts and cakes made with walnuts and apples. In Zagreb County the tourist board adds buncek, a cured pork knuckle, sausages and cabbage to the list. According to the Istria Tourist Board the young wine has many fans for its sweetness and particular taste. If you want goose in a restaurant on 11 November or the weekend after, book it together with the table.

Planning the trip: timing, transport and costs

• Timing: 11 November 2026 is a Wednesday. For the widest choice in Istria aim for Thursday 12 to Saturday 14 November, when Momjan and Pula overlap; for Vrsar's bike ride you need to be there on Saturday 7 November.
• Getting there: Pula's event is in the city centre and needs no car. Momjan's cellars are spread over the hills north of Buje and the Plešivica wineries sit above Jastrebarsko, so for both plan a sober driver, a taxi or an organised tour.
• Costs: none of the three 2026 listings states an entry price. In 2024 Vrsar's bike ride and Nordic walk were free and included lunch. Budget instead for tastings, bottles to take home and a goose dinner.
• Booking: reserve restaurants for 11 November and the weekend after early, and phone family wineries in advance, since many receive guests by appointment only.
• Programme check: for Zagreb, Zagorje and Slavonia the 2026 details may appear only days before, so look at the organisers' pages in the first week of November before you book a room.

Wine and the wheel: the legal limits

Croatian law leaves little room on a wine day. Under the Road Traffic Safety Act a car driver may have at most 0.50 g/kg of alcohol in the blood. Young drivers, defined as drivers under 24 with a Croatian licence, driving instructors, professional drivers and drivers of trucks and buses must have none at all. Above 0.50 and up to 1.00 g/kg the fine is 390 to 660 euros, above 1.00 and up to 1.50 g/kg it is 660 to 1,990 euros, and above 1.50 g/kg it is 1,320 to 2,650 euros or up to 60 days in prison. The police take your licence on the spot for up to 8 days, and a repeat offence brings a driving ban of at least three months in the lowest band and at least six months above 1.00 g/kg. Cyclists are fined 60 euros above 0.50 g/kg, which is worth knowing before a bike ride that ends with lunch.