In order to investigate the intravarietal variability, 160 phenotypically divergent Plavac Mali vines were selected, across entire growing area on more than 50 different locations. All vines were monitored and analysed (OIV descriptors and limited ampelometry) in situ for two to three consecutive years, and subsequently propagated to an ex situ collection planted in Split in the year 2005. Besides classical analyses, accessions were also screened by AFLP technique in order to estimate intravarietal variability at the DNA level. As expected, great variation within the population was recorded for different traits, and in some cases allowed us to define distinctive classes of supposed “ types” such as “ early” and “ late” in terms of ripening time ; “ small” and “ large” in terms of bunch and berry size, confirming previous reports. However, this variation is still to be confirmed through experiment in a single environment. Unexpectedly, AFLP analysis of the Plavac Mali population sample has revealed significantly lower polymorphism when compared to other grapevine cultivars tested in our laboratory.