Slavko (75): I Still Tend Bregovic's Vineyard

The story of Goran Bregovic’s cursed vineyard has been denied by the man who actually works that land. Slavko, the musician’s 75 year old cousin from the village of Sveti Petar Cvrstec, says there are no dark forces on the land and that he tends the vines every day. His account, along with stories from other villagers, was published on August 11 at 5:38 pm, and it is someone from that very plot talking about the vineyard, not the musician himself.

Slavko kept it short.

“It’s all just talk. To this day, just like every year since Franjo died, I work that vineyard.”

Franjo was Goran’s father. He died in 1996, and the musician inherited the house and the vineyard the elder Bregovic planted after he retired. The village has around 20 houses. That is the entire backdrop to a story that has circulated around the region for years.

What Was Actually Planted on the Plot

The estate was planted with Grasevina and Tudum, varieties that have been grown in that part of the country for decades. In good years the vineyard produced as much as 1,000 liters of wine. It is smaller today than it used to be, but according to Slavko it still produces a perfectly decent wine, not the drink the scary stories make it out to be.

Along with the vineyard comes an old cottage where Franjo lived until his death. He loved wine and company. In winter, crowds would gather there, the cousin recalls, and that part of the estate’s story never made it into the headlines.

Where Did the Curse Story Even Come From?

From two deaths that happened less than two years apart.

When he inherited the estate, Bregovic left the vineyard in the care of a cousin. Six months later, that man called him and said he could not continue.

“After six months, he called me and said he couldn’t go on. His wife had tried to kill herself, she threw herself under a train.”

The wife survived but lost an arm. Bregovic later said she confided in him that she woke up at four in the morning feeling like nothing was coming together. Not long after, a call came that closed out that chapter.

“My cousin soon told me that his wife, on her next attempt, succeeded in killing herself. She hanged herself. There was no point asking him to look after my vineyard anymore.”

The musician then found another man to look after the estate. He did not last long either, dying of throat cancer, also after just six months.

Slavko stops there when he explains where the legend comes from.

“Two tragic deaths turned into tavern gossip, which later became a story about ‘cursed forces.’”

The Bregovic Tally That Spread the Story

What pushed the legend out of the village and into the media was a single line of his. Bregovic talked about the whole thing with the black humor he is known for, and he did the math himself.

“So I sat down and did the math: the whole village has twenty houses, and because of that vineyard, in under two years, I’d managed to get two people killed. Better to leave it alone, and when I retire, I’ll take care of it myself.”

After that, he never entrusted the estate to anyone again. He said he would work it himself once he retired, and there, at least in public, the story stopped.

Two Versions of the Same Plot

The timeline is simple once it is laid out:

• 1996: Franjo Bregovic dies, Goran inherits the house and the vineyard
• six months later, the first caretaker gives up, his wife loses an arm
• the same woman later takes her own life
• the second caretaker dies of throat cancer after six months
• Bregovic stops entrusting the estate to anyone

Not one event in that timeline happened on the plot itself. Both tragedies struck people who were supposed to look after the vineyard, not people in the vineyard. The difference is small in the retelling and large in how the story sounds.

Slavko is still the only one who shows up there. He says he keeps doing what he has done for the past thirty years, since Franjo passed. Unlike the legend that has lived on in bars and on news sites, his version of the story has a witness who picks the grapes off the same vines every season.