Exploring the wines of North Macedonia with Slow Wine

The Slow Wine Coalition – a collaborative, inclusive and international network of people who love good, clean and fair wine and take care of it every day – is also active in Macedonia.

14 Oct 2024

This month we explore a gem in the Balkans, the Republic of North Macedonia, where a group of members and professionals of the network have created the second edition of Slow Wine North Macedonia, a guide that tries to tell the Macedonian territory with care and respect. The focus, as always, is to search and select wineries that are in line with the principles of the Manifesto for good, clean and fair wine ( you can sign here! ) and are a driving force for a territory that is increasingly moving towards agroecology.

Ivana Simjanovska, wine expert, editor and international judge and curator of the guide, tells the story of the context in which this work was born and signs an introduction to the viticulture of North Macedonia for those who are unfamiliar with the subject.

North Macedonia, a small landlocked country in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula, has a rich winemaking history that dates back to ancient times.

Among the most fascinating historical finds are a wine krater and a gold cup dating back to the 5th-6th centuries BC, found at the archaeological site of Trebenishta, near the city of Ohrid. During the Roman Empire, the region was famous for growing grapes. Numerous terracotta statues dedicated to Dionysus, dating back to the 1st century BC, have been found at the archaeological site of Stobi. Open-air stone basins from the Roman and Byzantine periods can also be found around the country. During the Ottoman Empire, from the 14th to the 20th century, viticulture suffered a setback, but wine production continued thanks to the Christian Church. When North Macedonia was part of the former Yugoslavia, from 1945 to 1993, two-thirds of all the region’s wine was produced there. Since gaining independence, many family-run wineries have emerged, with a strong focus on quality.

Wine Regions and Grape Varieties of North Macedonia

Wine production is mainly spread over three macro-areas: the western region (Pelagonia-Polog) with 1,817 hectares, the central region (Vardar River Valley or Povardarie) with 24,644 hectares and the eastern region (Pchinja-Osogovo) with 1,733 hectares. Each of these regions is divided into 16 wine districts. Most of the production is concentrated in Povardarie, where the famous Tikvesh wine district hosts some of the oldest wineries in the country.

Among the indigenous varieties , Stanušina , a Macedonian red grape, is gaining attention for its unique flavor profile, reminiscent of red currant, pomegranate, cherry and raspberry, with good acidity and body. This variety originates from the Tikvesh district and is grown on 423 hectares. It is one of the presidia of Slow Food Macedonia and, thanks to the efforts of wineries such as Popova Kula, Eros, Naumchevi and Brushani, it has been revived as an important part of Macedonian wine history.

Macedonia is known for its robust red wines, especially those made from the vranec grape , which means “black horse,” which produces full-bodied red wines rich in dark fruit flavors and spice. Other notable varieties include smederevka, temjanika (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains), and rkatsiteli for whites, while for reds there are kratoshija (primitivo, zinfandel, tribidrag), prokupec, plovdina, and syrah.

North Macedonia in numbers

Today there are 255 registered wineries in North Macedonia, most of them family-run. The country produces around 90 million liters of wine per year, of which 85% is exported and only 15% is consumed locally.

In recent years, the Slow Wine movement in North Macedonia has been gaining more and more attention. More and more wineries, especially family-run ones, are adopting sustainable practices to cultivate their vineyards, while in the cellar they are committed to minimal intervention, spontaneous fermentation and inoculation with selected yeasts. Slow Food Macedonia has organized five Slow Wine Fairs and published two guides: the first in 2021 and the second, the Slow Wine Guide 2024, was launched just two months ago, supported by the Negroni Week Fund.

Macedonian Wines at Terra Madre 2024

During Terra Madre, the Slow Wine 2024 guide was presented, one of the successful projects of Slow Food Macedonia. The guests of the event had the opportunity to taste wines from four Macedonian wineries: Naumchev Stanushina Rosé 2023 and Vranec Barrique 2022, Eros Talisman Zhilavka 2023 and Iliev Temjanika 2023.

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