Comeback of Serbian wines to global market

Serbian wines have successfully returned to the global market, and winemaking is one of the quickest growing businesses in Serbia's agriculture, employing about 100,000 households in the country with a population of 7.3 million, Reuters said in a text published Tuesday.
The British news agency mentions a legend saying that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus never let his soldiers sit idle, so in peacetime he put them to work planting vineyards in the rolling hills of Alma Mons, present-day Fruska Gora in northern Serbia. Over the centuries, winemaking became a noble and lucrative business across the western Balkans. Two world wars, communist-era neglect and a decade of turbulence at the close of the 20th century devastated the industry, but in Serbia there are green shoots of revival, Reuters writes. Exports of award-winning Serbian wines are soaring. State-run cooperatives that produced huge quantities of poor-quality wine in the communist era have improved and private vineyards growing indigenous grape varieties have increased. - Serbian wines are returning to markets. In the past 10 or 15 years we made big steps forward in production and quality," said Miroslav Kovacevic, 47, a portly, third-generation winemaker from the northern town of Irig, where his family vineyards employ around 120 people. Between 2006 and 2014, exports of wines and other grape-based alcoholic drinks had more than doubled to 17 million euros ($18.84 million), Serbia's Statistics Office said, despite floods and poor weather that damaged last year's grapes. Last year master sommeliers at the Decanter World Wine Awards competitions in London awarded Serbian wines 25 medals and recommendations, up from two in 2008.

Vinarija Kovačević doo Irig

Republički zavod za statistiku

Serbian wines

wine exports

exportation of wines from Serbia

Marcus Aurelius Probus

Alma Mons

Fruska gora

Miroslav Kovacevic