One of the pillars of the Serbian wine revival from the beginning of the century, Vinarija Kovačević was chosen for The best winery in Serbia in 2024 , and even two of their wines were at the top of the list of the best in their categories – Sauvignon S Edition 2021 among white wines from international varieties, and Brut 2011 among sparkling wines.

At the same time, it became the largest organic winery in Serbia, while the Vinska kuća Kovačević restaurant is probably the most famous and the largest within a winery, an effective combination of an elegant ambience and top quality ingredients prepared in a traditional way. Exactly what the owner of the Winery, Miroslav Kovačević, wants to achieve in his best wines.

How were you received by fellow winemakers who started organic production in Serbia before you?
– Well, normally, I’m not someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Maybe people perceive it differently, but before the Kovačević Winery, there were not many in Serbia who were engaged in organic production. Here and there some with a smaller vineyard, only two or three wineries. With a few exceptions, no one was working larger plots organically. They were all small producers.

Did you exchange experiences with anyone here when you started down the path of organic wine production?
– In principle, no. Winemakers in Serbia are generally not too familiar with each other. We don’t have the habit of helping each other very much. It is true that we founded the Association of Organic Grape and Wine Producers of Serbia last summer, so I hope we will cooperate more over time, until it takes root. As for other wine associations in Serbia, there is a lot of jealousy, friction and personal interests, instead of working on creating a wine brand for each region.

What is your opinion about Serbian organic wines?
– I haven’t tried many of them. At the last meeting of the Association, they tried only a few wines brought by colleagues, but I don’t have a clear picture. Honestly, I have tried more organic wines from the region and the world. Now I rarely visit fairs and tastings, unlike before when I knew every wine that was produced in Serbia. There are now a lot of winemakers I’ve never heard of.

And what do you think of the wine scene here in general?
– It is visible that it is growing. New generations are coming to wineries that were founded 10-20 years ago, new energy, styles are changing, and in general there are more and more wineries… There are also new ones who work according to the principle “a frog saw a horse’s shoe, so it raised its leg”, but also those who invest excess capital in winemaking. Everyone is going towards some imagined goal.

Which one is yours?
– As far as organic production is concerned, it is more my conviction or the lifestyle I want to live, to be more responsible towards nature. I didn’t start producing organic wines because of the image, but because I love nature and live in nature and with nature! We are currently drinking Sauvignon S Edition 2021 , could you tell if this wine is organic or conventional? I don’t think anyone could argue either. The bottom line is that wine is either good or it’s not, regardless of whether it’s organic. Another thing is that we know that organic is healthier. But you can’t recognize that in the taste and smell of wine and say that you like organic wines based on that.

What are the Winery’s development plans?
– The idea is to grow in the segment of the premium line in which all wines will be certified organic and made in the traditional way in the cellar, only with wild yeasts.

Organic wines are seen by some winemakers as a trend. How do you see them?
– Organic production is first and foremost a necessity, we must preserve both health and nature. As for me, I have always tried to be at least a little different from others. Provided I like it, of course. And I would rather say that I made trends than that I followed them. That’s how I became one of the first in Serbia ten years ago to become interested in long-macerated orange wines. That was the entry into traditional wine production. I met several Slovenian winemakers from the Goriška brdo who made such wines, went there regularly every year and fell in love with such wines. That is what prompted me to start producing them myself.

The impression is that with orange wines, and then with organic production, you set out to destroy the myth that such wines come primarily from small wineries.
– Part of me got into it out of spite, to show that wines are produced in the vineyard, not in the winery. You know, years ago, when new winemakers appeared on the market, they used us, who have been around longer than them, as a tool for their marketing.

In what way?
– Let’s say, they come to a restaurant to market their wine and the first thing they say to the boss or manager is: “We are small, we have tradition, not like these big ones who are purely commercial”. And they started making wines only one or two years ago!

How much of your production is organic wine?
– Annually, we produce slightly more than a million liters in the winery, of which about ten percent is organic. My wish is for it to reach about 40 to 50 percent, so that the audience starts to recognize us by them. Our standard line of wines has long been established on the market and they have their customers.

How many organic vineyards do you have now?
– A total of 120 hectares, of which we have a certificate for 66 hectares and the rest is under conversion. And it is, as far as I know, the largest organic vineyard in Southeast Europe!

What local varieties are planted there?
– The most is morave, on 5.4 hectares, then there are neoplants on four hectares, white frankincense on 4.3 hectares, peas on 2.5 hectares, probus on 2.4 hectares, then we have one hectare under furmint and about half a hectare of fennel.

Does this mean that you will be making varietal incense sticks and incense sticks?
– No, both of those varieties go into coupage. These are not typical wines from these areas.

Which of those local varieties that you have in your vineyard is the most interesting to you?
– It must be from the whites. It is resistant to diseases, so it is suitable for organic cultivation, it has a bit of that nutmeg touch… I even believe that it could be as important for Fruška Gora as frankincense is for the south of Serbia.

And peas? In recent years, he has somehow been in the foreground on Fruška Gora?
– I don’t want to sound like a “hater”, but for now I have no intention of making it as a separate wine, but it goes in a blend with Rhine Riesling.

Why?
– Because I think that Rhenish Riesling produces bigger wines, that’s my impression.

However, you still have the most Chardonnay in the vineyards…
– We sell it the most, but Riesling is the wine I like to drink. I’ve noticed that as I get older, I prefer wines with higher acidity, which again means that I probably prefer sauvignon and riesling to chardonnay now. It seems that the more you become an alcoholic, the more you like sour… (laughs) When someone asks me how to learn to recognize wines, I tell them that they have to become an alcoholic first! It’s a bit of a joke, but basically, you can’t understand wine if you don’t drink it.

In the last ten years, Fruška gora has become both a symbol and a kind of locomotive of the accelerated wine development of Serbia. How do you look at it?
– Fruška gora probably has the most winemakers and winegrowers, but the problem is that few vineyards are planted. I would not like to talk about it, except that I can say that it is not being done as it should be.

What is the biggest problem?
– I told you I don’t want to talk about it. But I would like someone from the Union of Winemakers to come out with data and say how much of what was outlined in the Development Strategy has been fulfilled. If we made that strategy just to have it on paper, then it means that it was done in vain. Waste of money. We have to work on implementing the strategy, not just getting a rating and building the best possible winery.

Local winemakers often mention Istria as a successful example. What prevents us from applying their experiences?
– Our problem is vanity, what I already told you about. There is no mutual cooperation between the winemakers, we are not cooperating on the way to some goal that should be common! That’s the bottom line. Everyone has an opinion about everyone, and I’m afraid that we won’t soon be on the path that Istria is taking. Here, on the level of a pea on Fruška Gora, some story is being made and that is nice, but again… All of that would have to be better. Vanity and division between winemakers is not good, and it exists. In principle, I have no reason to hate or be jealous of anyone, we sell everything we produce. Basically, I think that here in wine-producing Serbia, the pots are mixed up. We should understand that the locomotive pulls the wagons, not the other way around!

And what next?
– What can I tell you? We all go towards our own goal, because obviously we don’t all have the same goal.

Text taken from the website www.vino.rs / photos by Ivan Čutura)