Who makes it
StoneCastle works from Bernjaka P.N., Rahovec, at a winery whose earlier life began in 1953 as NBI Rahoveci, a large state-run operation built by Yugoslavia’s government. That scale still matters to the bottle: StoneCastle’s estate wines come from a substantial Rahovec vineyard base, while the Gecaj family name now sits behind the winery that makes them.
The estate model gives the wines a firm geographic starting point. Cabernet Sauvignon, Vranç and the reserve tiers are not presented as detached labels; they are wines made under one family’s ownership from vines spread across the valley around the winery.
Where it grows
Rahovec is the setting for StoneCastle’s vineyards and cellar, with Bernjaka as the winery address. The Rahovec Valley holds the estate’s 700 hectares, so a StoneCastle label points to a broad local growing area rather than to a named village appellation or a single classified site.
Altitude ranges from 330 to 550 metres across those holdings. That spread is a practical part of the estate’s wine character: parcels do not all sit at the same height, and the winery has fruit from hilly and more mountainous ground to shape its Cabernet, Vranç and reserve bottlings.
How it is made
The cellar
StoneCastle calls its wines estate wines, and the vineyard scale gives that claim substance. Fruit comes from 700 hectares in the Rahovec Valley, so the cellar’s work begins with grapes grown across the producer’s own clay-limestone sites rather than with an anonymous regional blend.
The winery stands in Bernjaka, close to the estate that supplies it. This link between vineyard and cellar is especially relevant for the range’s different levels: a fruit-driven Cabernet can show an immediate, straightforward side of the estate, while the Owner’s Choice red takes a more oak-shaped, tannin-led direction.
What they make
The range has a clear progression. Cabernet Sauvignon provides the accessible, fruit-driven red; varietal Vranç gives a second route through the estate’s red wines; reserve bottlings add another tier; and Owner’s Choice sits at the top end of the named range supplied here.
The 2017 Owner’s Choice red is the key structural contrast. Fine oak and silky tannins put wood, texture and grip at the centre of that wine, whereas the standard Cabernet is framed around fruit. The Owner’s Choice line also includes a 2019 Chardonnay, showing that the upper tier is not limited to red wine.
Wines to try
First bottle
Choose the 2017 Owner’s Choice red. It is a red from StoneCastle’s upper named tier, and its fine oak and silky tannins make the wine’s structure easy to locate: oak shapes the flavour and texture, while the tannins carry a smooth grip into the finish. It also places the old Rahovec winery, the Gecaj family’s 2006 acquisition and the estate’s current range in one bottle without requiring a survey of every label.