Mladen Rakčević, Former Professional Handball Player and Winemaker
From Handball Courts to Vineyards: A Winemaker’s Story of Tradition and Transformation
Mladen Rakčević’s journey is one of striking contrasts – from the intensity of professional handball to the quiet dedication of winemaking. Born in Cetinje, he grew up in a city where tradition and resilience are woven into everyday life. Years spent competing for the Montenegro national team and international clubs shaped him with discipline, perseverance, and a sense of identity that would later guide his second career. When the time came to retire from sport, Rakčević carried those values back to his family estate in Smokovac, where vineyards and stone walls held the memory of generations before him.
There, he undertook the demanding task of restoring the land, reviving autochthonous grape varieties such as Vranac, and blending them with international ones like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. His approach balances heritage with innovation, creating wines that speak both to local roots and to a global audience. Each bottle from the Rakčević Winery is more than a product – it is a narrative of culture, place, and identity, infused with the same discipline that once defined his life on the court.
Rakčević’s story is not only about wine, but about transformation: the passage from arenas filled with noise and adrenaline to vineyards where patience and silence reign. It is about honoring family legacy while carving out a new path, proving that the rhythm of hard work and love for the land can be just as powerful as the roar of sport.
Behind you is a long professional handball career, including stints with international clubs and the Montenegro national team. Which period of your sporting career left the deepest mark on you, and why?
Every period of my career has its own weight, that is, its own role in shaping me both as a player and as a person. Starting with my very first handball steps at Handball Club Lovćen, followed by my call-up to the first team of Handball Club Lovćen at the age of 17. During that six-year period playing for Lovćen, I also received calls to the cadet and junior national teams of the former Yugoslavia, a call-up to the senior national team of Serbia and Montenegro, and ultimately the fulfilment of a dream – the call to become a member of the Montenegro national team. Therefore, every club I played for had an important role in my personal and professional development.
Professional sports demand discipline, consistency, and resilience. Which values have you directly transferred from the court to the business you run today?
I like to say that professional athletes are like soldiers. Order, hard work and discipline. Naturally, these values shaped me as well, and what I wanted to transfer into my wine story is precisely that sense of responsibility and continuous work on improvement, of course accompanied by love for what you do.
The decision to end your sporting career and return to Smokovac was a major personal turning point. At that moment, what was the deciding factor that made you turn toward your family land and winemaking?
* That decision did not come suddenly. In fact, I had been dreaming about creating a wine story in my village of Smokovci for around fifteen years before it actually began. I wanted to restore the old house and the vineyards, continue the family tradition, and at the same time position myself exactly there – living with nature and living from nature.
The Rakčević Winery was born on a family estate and has built a recognizable identity. What did the journey look like from the initial idea to the first harvest and the very first bottle of wine?
Analyses show that it is only the third generation that can truly benefit from a wine story. I would like to emphasise that it was demanding on several levels to restore the house, the estate and the vineyards, as well as to embark on a certain modernisation of the winery and the wine production process, while at the same time preserving part of the tradition and the love for heritage and wine.
The names of your wines, such as “Pečalbar” and “Smokovac,” carry strong symbolism. What family and personal stories do these names preserve, and why was it important for you to pour those stories into your wine?
Yes, at this moment we have three red wine labels. Pecalbar is inspired by my great-grandfather, who went abroad to work in America at the beginning of the 20th century, working in mines and sending money home so that the present day house could be built. Smokovac is similarly inspired by the surname our family carried until around 150 years ago. A fourth wine label is planned to be released very soon, to be called Iskra, inspired by the name of my daughter.
In your vineyards, you grow indigenous varieties primarily Vranac alongside international ones. How do you strike a balance between honoring tradition and adopting a modern approach to winemaking?
This area is well known for its wine tradition. The dominant varieties traditionally planted were Vranac and Kratošija. I added Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot – French varieties – while carefully preserving our autochthonous ones. In our blends, you can predominantly feel the indigenous varieties, above all Vranac, with its fullness and strength characteristic of this karst terrain, as well as subtle notes of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which together create an elegant yet distinctive wine.
Your wines have already been recognized and awarded at regional wine festivals. How do you define the success of the Rakčević Winery today is it through accolades, quality, consistency, or the continuation of a family legacy?
Through our hard work and the quality with which we positioned ourselves on the wine map of Montenegro, we were also fortunate that our wines received prestigious awards at the regional level. Knowing that the wine story is, in essence, a story of generations, we are satisfied with how we have so far penetrated the market. What will continue to define us in the future is hard work, dedication and unconditional love for vineyards and wine. We will continue to listen carefully to our loyal consumers and strive to improve in quality year after year, never allowing production volume to compromise quality or our love for wine. Our winery is limited to an annual production of up to 3,000 bottles, which we consider to be the optimal quantity for maintaining and further improving the overall quality and story.