Meneghetti Wine Hotel & Winery Review

I’ve honestly lost track of how I found out about the Meneghetti Wine Hotel.  Whether I read about it in the Relais & Chateaux book or on Stacie Flinner’s blog, I cannot remember.  All I know is that it rose to the top of my hotel bucket list pretty quickly.  When they offer Black Friday deals, I snap them up. 

Our first stay at the Meneghetti was during a two-week trip through Croatia by car. We used it as the perfect home base for exploring the Istrian peninsula. The Menghetti Wine Hotel surpassed all of my expectations in 2021.  Our second stay was part of a trip to Northern Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia in the spring of 2025.  When we went back the second time, it was just as incredible. We loved it so much on that spring trip that we decided to spend Christmas there in 2025. Our second and third trips, we realized that the Meneghetti could be our own personal wellness retreat in Croatia. There are a lot of things to do in the area, but it’s also a wonderful place to slow down and just be (a little more) still.

The Menghetti is the perfect hotel for a honeymoon or other romantic vacation. It’s absolutely one of my favorite Relais & Chateaux hotels. I would love to find more hotels with a similar vibe.      

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links for tours and products I love at no additional cost to you.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Getting to the Meneghetti Wine Resort & Hotel

To get to the Meneghetti, you will likely need to fly and drive. Low cost and legacy carriers fly into Pula (40 minutes), Zagreb (3 hours), Zadar (4 hours), and Split (5 hours).  Dubrovnik is more than 8 hours away by car.  Coming from Italy, you could fly into Trieste (2 hours) or take a ferry from Venice to Rovinj.  As always, I use Rome2Rio to evaluate my options for travel transportation. On our second trip, we flew into Trieste and flew home from Venice. Our third trip was part of an epic winter road trip throughout Europe, so we drove from Vicenza and headed to Ferrara after Christmas.   

I highly recommend renting a car if you intend to stay at the Meneghetti for more than a few days.  Its remote location is perfect for getting away from everything. And, it’s perfect for making day trips to towns throughout Istria.  The roads are very smooth, traffic is very light, and there is a lot to see and do.  I found the drivers to be very low-key and courteous.  

On our two week road trip through Croatia, the Menghetti was our third stop between Zadar and Zagreb.  We stayed five nights on our first trip to the Meneghetti hotel. That still wasn’t enough to see and enjoy everything in the area.  It falls on the Olive Oil Route (it’s totally a thing), and there is no shortage of delicious places to explore in the surrounding area.  You can easily visit Porec, Rovinj, Pula, and Motovun as day trips. We were able to take advantage of several walking tours throughout Istria without having to get up too early.  Similarly, we enjoyed long, delicious dinners in the surrounding towns and didn’t have any trouble driving back to the Meneghetti. On our second and third trips, we spent more time at the estate.

If you want to stay close to the Meneghetti, we’ve had some truly memorable dinners in Croatia in Bale. 

Room 104 – Superior Room in Villa Meneghetti

On two of our three trips, we stayed in a superior room in the main building.  It was the largest room we had on our road trip through Croatia with a large bathroom and plenty of workspace.  I loved the contrast between the modern, minimalist decor of the rooms with the traditional stone resort.

The soft coastal hues of the room contribute to the feelings of relaxation.  It reminded me a lot of our rooms at La Torretta in Cinque Terre.  Our room felt very open and airy, even with a king-size bed.  Whenever I’d had to take zoom meetings during our trips, I had plenty of workspace available.  Our room did overlook the restaurant and outdoor dining area, but we never noticed any noise.  The air conditioning worked well, though we were more than happy to leave the windows open for fresh air.  

When we stayed here over Christmas, we opted to have a picnic in our room for Christmas dinner. The large desk made it easy to set everything out and enjoy a meal together. (They offer a celebratory menu in the restaurant on Christmas day, but we wanted something a little more low key.) I’m really glad that we opted for the larger room during our stay.   

The bathroom was absolutely lovely.  There was a large vanity with a single sink, a large walk-in shower, and you could open the window for morning breezes.  The room was equipped with beach towels, fluffy spa robes, and flip-flops, which made going to and from the spa a breeze.  Everything was perfectly branded with the Meneghetti name.  Even the bathroom amenities were branded Meneghetti. They were some of the few that I brought home with me from this trip.

The Meneghetti offered turndown service each night.  The surprises left by the staff varied from chocolate truffles made by the renowned pastry chef, a locally made relaxation and night balm, and a refreshing lemon-lavender drink.  I loved the surprise element of turndown service (an underrated luxury!), though if I had to choose, I would choose the truffles every night.            

Room 202 – Vintage Room

Our second stay at the Meneghetti was just as amazing as the first. I booked a Black Friday deal for the following spring, and when I had to move the dates to accommodate work, they were fantastic to work with on the change. On this trip, we drove from Trieste to the Meneghetti, and it was a very easy drive, though we did have to stop and buy a permit for driving through Slovenia!

The vintage rooms at the Meneghetti are just as comfortable as the superior rooms, but the decor is completely different! (This room was also a bit smaller than our first room, but it was perfectly comfortable!) Rather than the muted sea tones, the antique rooms are decorated in more natural hues. Since we were on the second floor, our room had a sloped roof with skylights in both the bathroom and the bedroom. We had a traditional armoire, a wrought-iron bed, and a small desk area. While the shower was smaller in the classic room, it did have fantastic water pressure, plenty of hot water, and featured the same Meneghetti branded amenities that we had on our first stay.

Our arrival gift included a bottle of the Meneghetti rose wine, fresh fruit, and macarons. We decided to bring the Rose home to have an interesting bottle for our monthly wine dinners. I loved how many different wine options were available in the mini bar from the Meneghetti winery. (The winery was closed for renovation but reopened in 2025!)

Meneghetti Spa

Generally, when I stay at a spa resort, I try to book specialty treatments, rather than just a basic massage.  I think this allows me to experience local products and enjoy new experiences.  While staying at the Meneghetti wine resort on our first trip, I booked the Islands in the Stream treatment.  This combination body scrub and massage was life-changing. I’ve never been that relaxed. On our second trip, I got an extended massage with Lom, and she was FANTASTIC. 10/10 would recommend booking a massage with her every day. On our Christmas trip, I enjoyed the vinotherapy treatments.

Meneghetti Wine Tastings and Vineyard Visits

Meneghetti Wine & Olive Oil Tasting

With the Meneghetti Wine Resort nestled among olive groves and vineyards, you can’t ignore the opportunity to try Istrian wine and olive oil at the Meneghetti winery.  We knew the wine would be good when we found it on the menu at a Michelin restaurant in Dubrovnik.  Our waiter told us that Meneghetti is one of the best wineries in Istria, if not Croatia.  I was excited because I had booked a wine tasting with our room.

When we checked in, we were able to book our wine tasting anytime between 11:00am-7:00pm.  This flexibility was much appreciated.  We opted to schedule our wine tasting in the late afternoon before heading to dinner.  We had no trouble booking a same-day reservation during shoulder season, but you might want to book in advance during the summer.  We noticed that the Meneghetti restaurant stayed quite busy, even when the hotel was quiet.

The wine tastings are at the Meneghetti wine lounge.  It’s a short walk from the main building and transportation is available.  There’s an ancient olive oil press on property, which is absolutely fascinating to see.  (When you tour modern production facilities along the Istrian Olive Oil Route, it’s amazing to see the technology changes!)  I always find it difficult to imagine how people came up with such innovative ideas when technology was so minimal.  It’s safe to say that I don’t have that level of creativity!  

We were able to try 5 of the Meneghetti wines and 4 olive oils during our tasting.  We were able to try to the sparkling wine, a few of the whites, and a few of the reds.  I really enjoyed the Malvazija, and I’m not typically a white white person.  Their red wines are great, too.  The wine and olive oil is served with local salamis and cheese.  They also offered us bread with our olive oil tasting, which we now know is a very American thing to do.  

We enjoyed the entire experience so much that we tried to recreate it one afternoon at the Meneghetti restaurant.  (Just book another Meneghetti wine tasting.  It’s worth it!)

Important to note:  Croatian wines, and especially the Meneghetti wines, are not widely exported.  You’ll want to order while you are at the resort.  You can also order once you are home from Wine & More (different than Total Wine and More in the US).              

The Meneghetti Wine Lounge & Vineyard Experience

On our third trip to the Meneghetti, the wine lounge was open. Despite the overcast weather, we opted for a quick visit to the Meneghetti vineyard to learn more about where the different varietals were planted. After a quick overview of the history of the winery and production areas, we headed to the “wine cockpit” to visit the production facilities. It’s so modern compared to the previous tasting room that we visited in 2021! (I was lowkey obsessed with the grape light fixtures.) I loved the private tasting room, which reminded me of the one at Castiglion del Bosco.

After the tour, we were escorted to the wine lounge for a tasting of both the Meneghetti white and red wines. We tried the 2020 Meneghetti Classic Brut sparkling wine (just lovely and what we drank the most of during our stay), the 2023 Meneghetti Merlot (an easy red Tuesday night wine), the 2024 Meneghetti Malvazija, the 2023 Meneghetti White, the 2024 Meneghetti Pinot Noir Rose, and the 2019 Meneghetti Red. They were all fantastic with beautiful complexity. The Meneghetti white is the wine that got me into white wines, so I have an affinity for it. I love the complexity of the Meneghetti red, and I am very interested in doing a vertical tasting of it. What I loved about this tasting is that the sommelier brought over the wines, explained them, and left us to enjoy them together. It felt a little more like a date night than a traditional wine tasting.

The ambiance of the Meneghetti wine lounge is very cozy, especially in the evening. We planned to go back… but never made it. Womp, womp. We also didn’t make it back to buy wine to bring home. Double womp, womp. We’ll be back. (They also have great local products for purchase so you can DIY your own tasting experience at home!

Other Meneghetti Wine Resort Amenities

With so many day trips on our agenda, we weren’t able to take advantage of all the amenities offered by the Meneghetti.  We tried to do as much as we could, but there is only so much time in a day… especially when you spend so much time at the spa.  The great thing is that we left enough out that we have to go back, right??     

Meneghetti Beach Club

One of the things that I regret the most is not walking or biking down to the beach club to check out the Adriatic Sea.  The entire Croatia coastline seems breathtaking.  I’ve never seen more beautiful water anywhere.  When we were in Porec, it felt like you could see the bottom of the sea in every direction.  Given the quiet location of the Meneghetti, I would expect that this beach would be less crowded than others in Croatia.  While the sunsets we saw in Bale weren’t quite as breathtaking as the ones we witnessed in Zadar, they are still lovely since you are on the western coast of the Adriatic and your views are unobstructed.     

Dining at the Meneghetti

Our room rate included breakfast on both stays, and I’m sad to say that we only took advantage of breakfast once during our first stay stay!  That said, breakfast was absolutely delicious!  My eggs were scrambled with traditional Istrian sausage, the pastries were incredibly fresh, and there was a bread basket (perfect for trying those Meneghetti olive oils).  

Because of all of our day trips, we did not take advantage of lunch or dinner at the Meneghetti on our first stay.  (Don’t worry, we rectified this by our third stay!) We did have mid-afternoon snack of traditional Istrian salami and cheese, along with Meneghetti wines.  Everything utilized local ingredients and was made in-house, so it was incredibly fresh.  (I was really, really impressed with Istrian cuisine.)  While it was not open while we were there, these is a poolside seasonal restaurant and bar, Oliveto, which overlooks the vineyards.    

Dinner at the Meneghetti Restaurant

Once we decided to make Christmas at the Meneghetti our personal wellness retreat, we decided that we would minimize our leaving the property as much as possible. The restaurant has always been very popular on our previous visits. We decided to give it a try on our first night after a long travel day. We now know what we’ve been missing. We ended up having almost all of our meals there. And, honestly? The Meneghetti Restaurant at Christmas is such a vibe.

The Meneghetti restaurant menu is seasonal, and it is delightful!! I would say that the entire experience rivals what we’ve had at Le George in Paris, though the atmosphere is completely different. The care in presentation and the quality of the food is just is high though. The staff are knowledgable, friendly, and NAILED the wine recommendations. (Some nights we wanted Meneghetti wines, other evenings we wanted to try more from Croatia. They did not lead us astray at all.)

The menu changes often, but here are a few highlights from us. The Istrian cheese plate was something we never would have tried on our own. all the cheeses were completely unique. We enjoyed the charcuterie immensely. Istria is known for its truffles, and the truffle risotto did not disappoint. None of the risottos disappointed. They recommended a pumpkin risotto one evening; we both loved it! On our first visit to the Meneghetti, they told us not to miss anything the pastry chef created. (The truffles *were* delicious.) On this trip, I made sure to save room for desert. WOW. These were exquisite and delightful. Definitely save room for dessert.

What I truly love about the Meneghetti restaurant is how they focus on local and seasonal flavors and ingredients. It was abundantly clear that everything was made fresh. Honestly, as I look at my life and my travels, I am so grateful for the restaurant staff who have encouraged us to understand more about seasonality and the sense of place that can accompany dining. As two (formerly picky) eaters, our experiences have been made so much better by the person who says, “Try this. Trust me.”

Meneghetti Bar

On our second and third trips, we were able to take advantage of the Menghetti bar. When the winery was closed for renovation, we used our time at the bar to try the Meneghetti wines. (Once again we made the grave mistake of not bringing any Meneghetti wines home with us. The Meneghetti merlot is definitely a favorite red. And, we really love the Meneghetti sparkling wine. We consumed more than a few glasses of that throughout our Christmas trip.) The bar has a very creative cocktail menu though, and I’d love to go back for a nightcap on our next trip.       

Things to Do near the Meneghetti Resort

As mentioned above, the Menghetti Wine Resort is perfect for day tripping throughout Istria.  Within an hour, you can see some of the most beautiful sights and enjoy some of the most incredible food.  While I covered a lot of these adventures on my post on things to do in Croatia, I’ve shared a few more photos and more details below.  

The Istria Olive Oil Route

Don’t limit your olive oil experience to the Meneghetti.  Istria is home to many of the best olive oils in the world and we brought a lot of it home.  Why haven’t we heard about this?  Most Croatian olive oil producers are small compared to the production that happens in Spain, Italy, and Greece.  The production is smaller because Croatia harvests its olives earlier.  Less olives = less olive oil.  Croatian producers believe that harvesting early yields better quality oil. 

We found that many of the local producers were happy to share a lot about their production and olive oil with us.  In some places, we were able to see the production facilities.  In other places, we learned more about how the blends of olive oil are created.  In all cases, we were taught how properly taste olive oil and were able to better understand the differences between mass produced olive oil and the local Croatian olive oil.  

Favorite Places to Buy Croatian Olive Oil: Brist and Chiavalon (We bought from both on both trips to the Meneghetti!)      

Truffle Hunting in Istria

Istria is truffle country.  You can book a truffle hunt on your own or through the Meneghetti if you want to learn more about how these delightful treats are harvested.  If you can’t squeeze that in, head to Pietro & Pietro in Motovun to try all the truffle products.  They have chopped truffles, truffle creams, truffle oils, truffle chips, truffle cheese… well, you get the picture.  They also have a local red wine liquor, Terrano, that is delicious. (I use the Terrano to make a syrup for my strawberry fraisier!)  

While in Motovun, grab a meal at Konobo Mondo. On our second trip, we made the 45-minute drive twice because the food and wine were THAT good. (The truffle fuzi will change your perspective on truffle pasta.) We spent Christmas Eve here in 2025, and it was so cozy (and delicious). The staff is BEYOND kind. We loved them so much. Wear your walking shoes.  Motovun is like the hill towns of Italy – a little bit steep and sometimes slick.  It’s absolutely beautiful though.  

Rovinj Day Trip

It’s tough to choose my favorite Istrian city.  They are all gorgeous in their own right.  That being said, I loved Rovinj.  Rovinj has a classic Venetian look with a stunning harbor, winding streets that you can’t get lost in, and bright, colorful houses.  We really enjoyed taking a walking tour of Rovinj to learn more about this beautiful coastal city though.  Our guide, Goran, led us through Rovinj – from its initial founding, to its move across the “canal,” to its present-day challenges in keeping the city vibrant as people move to the suburbs.     

Goran provided us some great recommendations for various restaurants and products throughout Istria.  Everything we tried that he recommended ended up being outstanding.  As a local, he really knows the area, so don’t be afraid to ask him for recommendations!  

Rovinj Wine Tasting

Dobravac Winery near Rovinj ended up being one of our favorite wineries in Istria on our second trip. We tried a couple of their wines at some of the restaurants around the Meneghetti wine resort (and at Brist!), so we decided to pop in one afternoon. Luka provided us with a impromptu and wonderful wine tasting experience. He was BEYOND kind in explaining all the different Croatian wine varietals to us. Everything we tried was exceptional – we purchased 12 bottles to bring home to the US. We went heavy on the white wine, but Tom really loved the Fuga red wine from Dobravac, too. We were able to sit outside and enjoy beautiful views of Rovinj and the sea.

Check out this post for more things to do in Rovinj!

Pula Day Trip

The tour also covers part of the “new” town, where you can see the Austro-Hungarian influence and visit the market.  Our guide was able to provide area restaurant recommendations in both parts of the city, as well as more recommendations for things to do and see. 

Porec Day Trip

If you do one thing, go to Porec to see the basilica.  The Basilica complex was built in the 4th century and it is a sight! While the church is a lot smaller the Basilica San Marco in Venice, I found it even more breathtaking.  You don’t have to book a guide; we had trouble finding one.  That said, your entrance ticket provides a guided visit through the entire basilica complex, including the bell tower, the Bishop’s Palace and the incredible views of the Adriatic Sea.

We did spend a bit of time wandering through Porec, but everything was overshadowed by the beautiful mosaics of the basilica.     

Final Recommendations for the Meneghetti Wine Resort & Hotel

While visiting the Meneghetti Wine Resort, you have to head over to Bale for a meal at La Grisa.  Not only is the food absolutely incredible, but the staff is absolutely wonderful as well.  I had a truffle pasta here that changed my life.  No truffle pasta will ever come close to this one, I’m convinced.  They also have a chocolate soufflé with fresh ice cream that is worth the wait.  We went twice during our stay, and I could have eaten there for every meal. When we went back to the Meneghetti, we went back to La Grisa and enjoyed it all the same.

Istria is home to the most tasty souvenirs in Croatia.  Don’t forget to bring home wine, truffle cheese and olive oil.  (If you can’t make it to the shops along the olive oil route, La Grisa sells an incredible olive oil, too.)