Vilagrad Winery
5th generation family owned winery
About the winery
Establishe in 1922 by Ivan Milicich Snr, Vilagrad Winery is now in its fifth generation as a family owned and operated winery. Specialising in fine wine, food and entertainment. Our exquisite range of multi award winning wines are carefully hand harvested and hand crafted at the winery creating high quality wines that reflect the climate and soils of the region. Enjoy our delicious Mediterranean cuisine with a relaxing Sunday Lunch, a memorable Wedding Day or the sensational Harvest Festival. Vilagrads exudes a unique sense of history, charm and style to every occasion. While following in the footsteps of previous Milicich generations, the three brothers have taken a step further in creating an unprecedented wine, food and entertainment package. Four renowned New Zealand wine regions have been selected for their prominent wine varietals and in each of these wines the essence of the unique landscapes is captured. The Nooyen brothers have sophisticated the traits of each of these v
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Location
Waikato
History & Geography
Ivan Milicich Snr had few possessions when he left the village of Podgora on the Dalmatian coast, Croatia in 1893, but he had skills, strength and a deep abiding love for his homeland and people. These attributes continue to influence subsequent generations of his family in New Zealand. For over a decade Ivan Snr worked as a gum-digger and on contract jobs, saving to help his brothers emigrate and to buy his own land. In 1906 he began to grow grapes on his small dairy farm at Ngahinepouri and in 1922 he obtained a license to make and sell wine. This was the beginning of a Waikato family business which is now in its fifth generation. The winery is now known as Vilagrad, where the great-grand sons of Ivan Milicich Snr make award winning wines using both modern and traditional techniques. Each generation brought changes and extensions to the family business. Ivan's grand-daughter Nelda, and her husband Pieter Nooyen, current owners, replanted much of the vineyard with classic varieti
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