Vesti

Did you know that Tamjanika is an indigenous variety of wine and that it’s been grown in Serbia for more than 500 years?

Many people believe that Tamjanika originates from the muscat blanc à petits grains variety from the Greek island of Samos, of which famous musk wine is made. Here in Serbia, Tamjanika has sustained in the Zupa area, not far from the winery itself.

In our winery, you can taste one of the first barreled batches of Tamjanika in Serbia, known by the name of Jefimija.

It was named after the first Serbian female poet, nun Jefimija, a spouse of Despot Ugljesa Mrnjavcevic.

Jefimija’s birth name was Jelena. She got this name when she became a nun in Zupanja monastery and was later transferred to Ljubostinja monastery. There she embroidered a famous
Praise to the Prince Lazar. As a token of gratitude to the first Serbian female poet, our Tamjanika was named Jefimija.

Jefimija wine is obtained from the grapes selected during harvest from the best places in our vineyard. It is stored for six months in new oak barrels, and thereafter in bottles for 12 months.
Once this process is finished, it is ready for sale and tasting.

We began the harvest of red grapes in mid-October by harvesting Shiraz, continued with Prokupac and finished with Cabernet Sauvignon. The quality was excellent with Brix up to 25,
whereas the yield was reduced due to bad weather.

The fermentation process took three weeks and, following mild pressing, the wine was finally in the tanks. Two days later, it was separated from crude residue and slow fermentation continued in a warm cellar at the temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

White wines have finished the fermentation process. They were separated from residue two times and the smell typical of Tamjanika and Sauvignon Blanc varieties has already emerged. Now they are hibernating and resting until January, when they will be purified and filtered.

Within the next month, we will start pruning the vineyard. Currently we are planting the vines that have withered during summer, thus filling the empty spots in the vineyard.

 

It’s been a specific year – mild winter, warm spring and summer with lots of precipitations – and this has affected fertilization of grapes, leading to reduced yield during flowering time. It was hard to preserve vineyards, but sunny August and September have brought good quality to stum and grapes, although with reduced yield. The harvest began on 15 September by picking Sauvignon blanc, which had remarkable quality and 25.2 brix stum, so all the conditions and potential are there for wine to be as great as that of the last harvest.

We harvested Tamjanika some ten days later. The grapes were healthy and ripe, the yield was reduced, but the quality was outstanding. The brix level of the stum was 24.5. Now is the fermentation time, so one can hear its pleasant whisper from the cellar as if it’s talking to the winemaker.

The harvest of Merlot and grapes for Rose is scheduled for next week. Cabernet Sauvignon, Prokupac and Chiraz will be harvested around 20th October.

 

In the last several years, wine tourism ― visits to wineries, wine tasting and weekend breaks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays — is spreading throughout the world. In an attempt to follow modern trends, our winery is also adapting to this new kind of tourism. With a mandatory visit notice, we organize tours of our vineyards where guests can enjoy fresh air, greenery, beautiful landscape featuring views of the wide Morava River valley, royal city of Krusevac and Jastrebac, Rtanj, Ozren and Juhor mountains. In addition, guests can resort to wine tasting on a terrace of a lovable vineyard house. The works on the latter are in their final phase — there is electricity and plumbing, the apartment on the second floor is nearly finished as well as the guest hall on the ground floor.

A modern hall that is a part of the wine cellar has been built which can receive between 30 and 50 guests. We already accept group visits. We organize tours of the winery, wine tasting, lunches featuring domestic dishes and celebrations. Both small and large groups are welcome and everyone will be left with good impressions.

Aside from the winery, on the hill that dominates the view, visitors can see the magnificent church of St. Ana, rich with frescoes. It was built in the 14th century and first time mentioned in a muniment of princess Milica by which she appoints the village of Bucje and the surrounding villages to the Russian Pantelejmon monastery in Mount Athos. In turbulent past, this church was burned, demolished and rebuilt a number of times.

Veluce and Ljubostinja monasteries are also located close to the winery. When you visit them and listen to stories told by monks and nuns under ancient arches and beautiful frescoes—which are silent witnesses of the past times and our existence in this area—you will experience a part of our history and religious culture.

The winery is 220 km far from Belgrade, 90 from Nis and Kragujevac, 15 from Vrnjacka Banja—the capital of wine tourism in Serbia—and 10 from Trstenik. It is marked on wine roads and on Google maps. The construction and completion of the Morava corridor passing at a distance of five kilometers from the winery will bring the latter even closer to its guests. All the access roads are marked and paved. All you need to do is show up, make a tour and see this beauty—”paradise on earth”, as described by many visitors of our winery, domestic and foreign alike.

So come visit us, try our wines and see for yourself. We are expecting you! Welcome!

Your Milosavljevic Winery, Wine Villa. Cheers!