Allow me to introduce to you a lesser known wine region … in the Balkans – Serbia. Although we did not expect Serbia to align with our wine drinking interests, it has in fact been producing wine for millennia and was a very pleasant surprise for us when we began researching some trips beyond Belgrade. Our ignorance in part, I am sure, is because very few Serbian wines have made it to Western markets and so you would need to buy from a specialist or visit the country yourself – great excuse!
We stopped in for the most wonderful and quite generous tasting at Kovaçevic Winery.
How to get there
We rented a car and visited Fruska Gora national park and wine region and wound past so many wineries. We initially struggled to find this place because Google Maps will bring you to the manufacturing end when actually what you want is the restaurant or retail part a little further down the road. A couple of friendly staff at the warehouse pointed us out our route.
This winery did not disappoint. It takes on the look of a hotel come wooden lodge. The building is stoneladen and large …(TBC)
Our favourite wines in Serbia were…
Whilst not a wine and in fact a fruit brandy, fit enough to put hair on any chest, I’m going off-piste and giving it a shout out. For anyone considering visiting Serbia, you must have some Rakjia – the local drink. It was without a doubt the best way to bond with the locals and to embrace local culture. Ways we enjoyed Rakjia whilst in Serbia – poured out of a plastic water bottle with our boat crew who took us to the Serbian Amazon (at 11am on a Sunday); with staff at the car agency after dropping our rental car back; buying it from a monk who made it in their monastery gardens in Fruska Gora. Rakjia permeates Serbian culture at every level – communities go house to house helping neighbours make their batch each year. It’s sipped in the morning alongside coffee as a cleanser. Sick children will wear socks dipped in it to bed. It’s an aperitif and a digestif. It is mostly made from plum, but is available in any flavour. It’s a cure-all in Serbia, in the same way flat 7Up or a hot whiskey might be in Ireland.