Although weather forecast indicated rain clouds over entire Serbia all weekend long, and the heavy, damp, autumnal morning air in Belgrade was promising rain  during the day, I kept up my optimism that we would see no rain. Primarily for the sake of Milijan Jelić, the owner of Jelić Winery, who chose this Saturday to invite guests, friends of the winery, customers and distributors to celebrate together the first decade of Jelić Winery's existence as well as the sixth anniversary of restored Valjevo grape vines.The first steps are usually the most difficult ones. It can't have been easy for Milijan to bring to reality his idea of planting vineyards on the slopes of Valjevo mountains, where they once used to be, to persist despite derisive laugh, doubt,  suspicious looks on the faces of local villagers and friendly advice not to go for this crazy adventure, simply because the region of Valjevo is well-known for its plums rather than grapes.

But, while living abroad, Milijan Jelić learnt how to start  from the scratch, similar to ants which would restore demolished anthill over and over again... So, construction of the winery began soon afterwards, vineyards got planted...

And today, ten years later, it's worthwhile to look back for a moment and estimate progress so far in order to be able to step into the next decade with as much success as possible. It wasn't easy to build a successful winery project at the moment when modern Serbian wine scene only started to emerge. But, owing to his dedication, hard efforts and love invested in wine-making  in the past ten years, Jelić Cellar earned numerous medals at international competitions, among which a silver medal for Tamuz Chardonnay 2006 earned at Chardonnay du Monde contest is of particular importance.

Wineries from Valjevo are also included in wine routes of Serbia, so just  follow the roadsigns, and you will unmistakably reach Jelić Winery. Later on, we learnt from Milijan's wife, Renata, that a lot of tourists visit the winery in order to buy wine on the spot, as the winery is conveniently located on the road leading to Montenegro and our tourist resorts: the mountains of Divčibare, Zlatibor and Zlatar.



While we were approaching the winery through young vineyards, we enjoyed the view of Valjevo hills already dressed in autumnal colours... Jelić Winery owns 20 hectares of vineyards on 4 locations: Bujačić, Degurić, Gola Glava and Kršna Glava.

As we entered the yard of the winery, we immediately spotted lively atmosphere by the bull on the spit, where a few chefs accompanied with several guests supervised roasting over open fire, so that meat would be succulent, well done, delicious...



Guests were welcomed in front of winery by hosts - Milijan and Renata with their children.



 

And then, a special welcome treat for all guests - sparkling wine made by Jelić Winery, exclusively for private needs, as a sort of game, an experiment, and who knows, perhaps an indication of direction for the next decade...





After a short music concert performed by men's singers from Kosjerić area dressed in traditional folk costumes, the host, Milijan Jelić gave a welcome speech.



 

While searching for truth and love in life, he has discovered wine and started producing it together with his family. And then, wine enriched his life by connecting him to diverse people around the world. Today, ten years later, it is the right moment to look back on development of modern Serbian wine-making so far, therefore Jelić Winery chose this jubilee to reward "the pioneers of modern Serbian wine-making" - people who take special credits for improving Serbian wine scene. Symbolically, the award is given to 12 people:

 

1. Vladimir Kovač,PhD,  oenologist from Novi Sad, an icon of wine-making in our country

2. Prof Petar Cindrić,PhD, one of creators of grape varieties developed at the Institute of Wine-making & Vinegrowing in Sremski Karlovci (Petra, Morava, Panonija, etc)

3.  Slavomir Ćirović, author of TV show Wine Route

4. Miroslav Kovačević, owner of Kovačević Winery from Irig

5. Mija Radovanović, owner of Radovanović Cellar from Krnjevo

6. Zoran Cilić, oenologist

7. Milorad Miša Cilić, oenologist

8. Milan Spasić, owner of Spasić Winery from Župa region

9. Vladan Nikolić, oenologist

10. Božidar Aleksandrović, owner of Aleksandrović Cellar from Topola

11. Dragoslav Ivanović, owner of Ivanović Winery from Župa region

12. Milun Radenković, owner of Radenković cellar from Župa region

The award received by Slavomir Ćirović:



The award received by Miroslav Kovačević:



The award received by Vladan Nikolić:



The award received by Dragoslav Ivanović:



Then the owner of Jelić Winery brought guests for a tour of the winery and cellar... It was a pleasure to visit the entire facility and hear the story of wine cellar dug in 10 meters underground, which ensures stable temperature all year round... And also to see the architectural design of the cellar in the form of wheel cross, for which all tanks had to be tailor-made in order to be placed under the arches.

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