Having heard the results of wine evaluation for the best wine of Serbia in 2012, you might have concluded that there were no surprises. Jury of the competition just reconfirmed a perception that an average wine consumer already has - Aleksandrović and Radovanović Cellars are the tops of Serbian wine-making scene.However, let's take a look first at the composition of international jury. Organizers have decided to engage international jury in wine evaluation, which is well worth a praise, because this has eliminated any  common gossips and rumours about lobbying and bias which often follow this kind of competitions. The jury consisted of wine experts from Russia, Slovak republic, Cyprus and Macedonia (FYROM):

VLADIMIR CAPELIK – wine expert from Moscow and President of the Independent Wine Club, frequently attending wine competitions worldwide such as Brussels, festival Mundusvini,Sofia...

GEORGIOS KASSIANOS – President of Cypriot Sommelier Association

VASSOS MANOLI – The best sommelier of Cyprus in 2012

VLADIMIR HRONSKY – Marketing Director in Vinanza Winery, member of editorial board in wine magazine Vinic a Vino, co-founder of Slovak sommelier association, member of jury at several international wine contests

IVANA SIMJANOVSKA – co-author and publisher of the first Macedonian wine guide for the year 2011, member of the jury at the Balkans International Wine Competition held in 2012 in Sofia (Bulgaria).

Concerning awards, beside 1 champion in the category of white wines and 1 champion in the category of red wine, the total of 8 gold medals and 30 silver medals were awarded. However, it is important to point out that about 20 wineries participated in this contest, so many wineries didn't send their wines to this contest.

Let's present the champion wines first:

The best wine of Serbia in 2012 in the category of red wine – RODOSLOV 2006 – Aleksandrović Cellar


Wine with rich and complex aromatic complex, composed of dark cherry, blackberry and mulberry tones, with delicate scent of dark chocolate and tobacco leaves. Very extractive, rounded wine with long-lasting, harmonious aftertaste enriched with soft oak tones. Rich wine with good aging potential.

The best wine of Serbia in 2012 in the category of white wine – CHARDONNAY SELEKCIJA 2010 – Radovanović Cellar


Wine with dominant floral character in the nose, accompanied with vanilla tones. Extractive, full-bodied and rounded wine with pleasant acids which contribute to sensation of freshness. In the mouth, aromas of ripe fruit and flavour of Serbian oak intertwine, thus contributing to impression of sweetness in the aftertaste.

Concerning other wines, it seems that jury didn't feel particularly inclined to rose wines, as 9 rose wines took part in the contest, but none of them managed to win any medal.

If you take a look at the list of awarded wines, you could notice that some wineries, such as Dibonis Winery, Belo Brdo and Kovačević Winery, should by no means feel disappointed with results. Although they didn't win the champion title, overall, they made a superb impression - for example, Dibonis Winery sent 7 of their wines for evaluation, and 6 of them won some of the awards... Surely, if I were a winery owner, I would be ultimately satisfied if 85% of my wines got awarded. For customers, this is a good indication of quality standards  applied by the winery.

On Saturday, 27th October, 2012, I decided to visit stands of exhibiting wineries without hurry. Hotel Tulip Inn-Putnik is a good venue for those who are arriving by car to the festival, as there are plenty of parking spaces around. However, a parade of politicians (Palma, Dodik, Vuk Drašković, etc), their security guards and black audi limos created commotion. Only later, I heard that members of Serbian Progressive Party were celebrating the feast of their patron saint - St. Paraskevi in the vicinity of Stari Merkator shopping mall.

There was no crowd at the festival, so I could freely access each stand, talk to wine-makers, taste and buy wines. However, wine-makers didn't feel so happy as they had expected more visitors. Some attributed this to insufficient marketing promotion of the festival by organizers, while some blamed the fact that festival was taking place on the Day of St. Paraskevi which is traditionally revered and celebrated in Belgrade as Patron Saint.

We visited first the stands of champion wines – Aleksandrović and Radovanović Cellars, where the festive mood prevailed because the champion title on this contest once again confirmed the invested efforts and hard work to create top quality wines from Serbia.



Stand of Janko Cellar from Smederevo is a treasure trove of diverse styles and varieties... Ranging from Smederevka, via interesting rose Jelena 2011 which represents an unusual blend among Serbian wines (Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon) all the way to Red Zapis 2008 - Cyrillic label (Janko Cellar tends to put labels with Cyrillic alphabet onto wines from the best vintages).

 



Zvonko Bogdan Winery didn't send their wines for evaluation, but they were present at the festival. We enjoyed a glass of their Cuvee No. 1  and its harmonious complex aromas of dark cherry, red and black berries, fully convinced that although this wine was not evaluated at the contest for the best Serbian wine, it deserves a place in the top ranks of Serbian wine scene.



Then we made "a silver round" by visiting several stands of wineries whose wines were awarded by silver medals. It seems that Cabernet Sauvignon glowed with silver to the jury – Semper Bene from Pusula winery (Valjevo), Suveren from Royal Winery (Oplenac) and Stephanos from Stemina Winery (Trstenik)… Three wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon originating from three different wine regions of Serbia, all glowing with silver lining...



Finally, at the stand of Botunjac Winery from Župa region, we tasted wine Jagoda produced from Serbian autochthonous grape variety Jagoda which is saved from oblivion owing to this winery. So far, this variety has been occurring only sporadically on the edges of vineyards in Župa region. Kosta Botunjac planted new vineyards solely with this variety, but we will have to wait for a couple of years to produce wine from these new vineyards. Currently, Botunjac Winery produces only 300-400 bottles of wine from Jagoda grapes, but their goal is to reach production of 1000 bottles with new plantings and to promote further this autochthonous Serbian grape variety. The label depicts a bee on a grape berry because this wine, although semi-dry, leaves intense sensation of sweetness and aromas of honey in the mouth.



 

 

 

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