We’ve all been there: you go to a winery restaurant, have a good meal… and one too many on the side. The only smart move in that particular situation is to stay the night instead of facing the road, and one exceptional facility near Knin offers you the chance to stick to the theme and sleep in your very own wine barrel
Marko Duvančić, a winemaker from Razvođe village near Knin, knocked on his own house door one day, waiting for his wife to let him in. When she saw his somewhat guilty face, she knew he’d been up to mischief.
As it turned out, she was right to think so. He had just bought eight wooden wine barrels, all 120 years old, which have formerly belonged to the factory Dalmacijavino. And not your average wine barrels, let me tell you, but gigantic ones – he had set his mind on turning them into accommodation units.
When the reporters of Šibenski asked Duvančić what made him think of that daring plan, he replied: “How did Bill Gates come up with Microsoft?”
But let’s go back to the beginning first. Apart from being a winemaker, Duvančić is also an agronomy engineer and a professor at the Vocational University in Knin. His success story started some twenty years ago, when he was a college student who decided to open a winery. At that time, there were no EU funds to lean on. “However, I was able to procure funds from the ministries. They told me I should feel lucky if I get one of five applied projects. I’ve submitted 23 proposals, and got 21 approved”, he was happy to report.
He leased a former elementary school building and furnished his new winery. It has a capacity of 90.000 litres; over time, his vineyards spread to a surface of 12.5 hectares. The place was quick to become popular with locals and guests, with his annual produce mostly consumed at the site, in their restaurant Pilipovi dvori (Pilip’s Palace). And then, at one point, the guests started to protest. “We want to come and drink without having to drive later on!”, they would say.
This is what got Marko inspired to build the barrel rooms. “When I heard [the barrels] were on sale, everything clicked into place. A lot of time was lost on obtaining permits and getting a loan, but we had our object up and running in a year and a half”, he said.
Konoba Dida Marka (Grandpa Marko’s Tavern) is quite an innovative take on accommodation, to say the least. A courtyard with a swimming pool in the middle is lined with rooms more spacious than one might think at first glance. The ceilings are insulated on the outside, the walls and floors on the inside. “We couldn’t have left the wood in the open, we’re talking about rooms after all”, stated the host.
Every barrel room is equipped with AC, a TV, a double bed and other furniture required for his object to boast impressive four suns – the highest category an agricultural tourism object can have.
Agritourism Duvančić works all year round; they have a respectable seven-month long season. They employ nine people throughout the year, with the number rising to forty in times of grape harvest. The hosts are serving only the best local dishes, most of them prepared using their own products. It’s worth noting the restaurant doesn’t have closing hours, but stays open through the night instead, as Duvančić wanted to provide his guests with the highest level of commodity. The service quality and the unique accommodation type led the facility to score a 9.7 rating on Booking.com.
The industrious owner is not stopping at wine and accommodation. He’s venturing into pig farming and prosciutto production, planting walnut trees. His next step? Tennis courts, bowling alleys and shooting ranges, which are all sure to make this unique destination even more attractive to various types of guests. When it comes to Duvančić and his business plans, it seems only sky is the limit.
Intrigued? Head to Šibenski to peek into the barrel rooms.
Photo credit: Agroturizam Duvančić
