Wine Travel in the Tikveš Valley, North Macedonia

[@eltonwells5395]

Mi Matthew, I've enjoyed watching your videos and your analysis of the various Balkan wines. My girlfriend and I traveled to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia last year and we enjoyed many of the wines there - Zilavka, Vranec and Plavac Mali. This year (two weeks from now in August), we will be going to Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

ohhh hope you had a good trip!

[@eltonwells5395]

Also, I initially had Kamnik Winery on my list, but, to be honest, I'm more of an old world wine person, and typically don't like new world, specifically Napa Cabs. When I do California wines, I prefer Pinot or GSM's from the Central Coast or the Sierra Nevada. And, from what I understand Kamnik is fashioned more in the Napa style - big fruit, high alcohol wines - cab, merlot, syrah, etc. But, maybe you have a different viewpoint on it. And, maybe Kamnik should be on one of my options? Let me know and thanks in advance!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Did you end up visiting them anyways?

[@zachp7603]

the demand for macedonian wine is massive. Though they have a big production of wine and you'd think supply would be sufficient, their biggest problem is they consume most of it themselves and not much is left for exports. This creates even a bigger supply demand shortage. The macedonian vranec might be the best wine in the world.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Many in the wine industry worldwide associate Macedonian wine as cheap, bulk wine. A lot of it is sold to Europe to be bottled or blended elsewhere. Focus on quality wine is improving immensely though. Macedonia Vranec the best in the world? Wow that is a big claim. There are some solid examples though.

[@BEhistoricStudios]

Go to Rahovec in Kosovo, they have theyr own Rakija and Wine making farm. Huge and really good.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks for the tip

[@eltonwells5395]

So, I have a question for you, as you're probably one of the few people that can answer this question. We only have time to visit one winery in Macedonia, so if it were up to you, which winery do you recommend we visit? Just a little background on me - I'm a certified Sommelier, but only for fun as I have a finance day job, so I'm pretty well versed in most wines, although still learning about Balkan wines through you actually. Given the research I've done and your videos as well, it appears the choices are Tikves, Stobi, Popova Kula, Bovin, Elenov and Brusani. Which would you recommend for interesting wines and nice scenery as well? I'm somewhat leaning away from the giant producers like Tikves, if that helps at all.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

We will be in Serbia from end of August, so message us if you are around. Macedonia wines are very new world, almost all of them. Serbian wine offers a little more old world touch, especially the Župa Valley where Prokupac is from. Kamnik is still worth going because they are probably the best. Other recommended producers are Brzanov, Brushani (Makes Vranec in a Chateau Musar style), Stobi, Popov, Popova Kula. Honestly, for your taste the large winery Tikveš makes the best wines, their Barovo and Bela Voda reds are made by a consultant from CdP (Rhône). In general, Macedonia makes mass produced, nice, fruity wines. Most of the wineries there are quite. Large, I'll pass you some articles we wrote on them. Also, check out the lastest video that features Serbia Prokupac (episode 218).

[@drmatthewhorkey]

exoticwinetravel.com/articles/wine-travel-wine-tourism/macedonian-wine/

[@eltonwells5395]

Thanks Matthew for all of this useful information! We'll be in Serbia the first week of August so we'll miss seeing you guys unfortunately. I watched espisode 218 on Prokupac and now I definitely want to try it when I'm there! And thanks for the link to the stories on Macedonian wines & Kamnik - we may decide to go there after all in addition to Tkves. But, one last question - if you had to choose between Kamnik & Popova (mainly for the scenery), which would you pick? I assume Kamnik?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Elton Wells for scenery Popova Kula for wine Kamnik