Viticulture in Serbia

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Viticulture on the Syrmian loess plateau , surroundings of Inđija
More than 100 years old, very strong Prokupac vines from the Vino Budimir press (including Sub Rosa, Triada) near Aleksandrovac , Župska regija

The Serbian wine has a centuries-old tradition that historically to the work of the Thracians and Greeks back. Among the 54,000 hectares of vineyards, the Syrmian Fruška Gora , the Vršačke gore in the Banat , the Timočka krajina in Eastern Serbia, the Toplički okrug around Kruševac and in general the landscapes of the Great and Southern Morava (with centers in Smederevo and Vranje) are important wine producers The oldest Serbian wine region in Metochien once produced the Amselfelder as the most exported red wine to the FRG . Regional varieties like the dominant Prokupac and Kadarka , Tamjanika , Smederevka , Vranac and Krstac be for varietal autochthonous wines or blends with Riesling , Pinot Noir , Gamay , Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

history

Dionysus mosaic in the retirement home of Emperor Galerius in Felix Romuliana
Kantharoi the pilaster of the gate facade of the Galerius Palace with grape vines
The Bardak is a traditional ceramic wine vessel from the Balkan Peninsula

Antiquity

Viticulture in Serbia goes back to Roman times . After Domitian banned viticulture outside the Apennines in the Roman provinces in 92 AD , it was not until the 3rd century that Marcus Aurelius Probus allowed viticulture in Pannonia , Moesia and Gallica again. It is assumed that the vine culture in today's Serbian territory was reintroduced for the first time on the slopes of the Fruška Gora in Syrmia , where Probus was born in the late antique imperial residence town of Sirmium . The 3rd and 4th centuries were the times of the greatest upswing in the region of Sirmium and the city itself and Roman chroniclers report that Claudius II Gothicus spent most of his life here, Aurelian of lower origins was born in Sirmium, Probus and Diocletian's co-regent Maximinian also came from the area. In addition to the imperial residence and the expansion of Sirmium with the largest hippodrome of the Roman Empire in the area, numerous Villa Rustica in which the wine culture was important developed.

The palace complex of Felix Romuliana 12 km from today's Zaječar, which Emperor Galerius had built for his mother Romula and himself as a retirement home , was centrally connected to the cult of Dionysus . In addition to the mosaic of Dionysus entwined with wine, there is also a relief of Ariadne in sleep for Romulian's iconography on the myth of Dionysus. Romula, a great devotee of the sacrificial feasts for the mountain deities, was a great opponent of the Christians. The retirement home of Galerius therefore also pursued a dual ideological orientation that of the connection between Galerius and Dionysus in which Galerius was glorified as a living god. The mosaic representation of Dionysus at the entrance of the large triclinium in the hall shows this sublime allusion, but other motifs also point to the cult of Dionysus: putti during the grape harvest, vines with grapes, kantharoi on the pilasters on the gate facades, one of which Grapevine emerges, as well as an architrave on which the head of Dionysus is most likely depicted - surrounded on both sides by pairs of panthers drinking from a krater (mixing jug). Zaječar and Negotin are still the center of the Eastern Serbian wine-growing region of Timočka Krajina.

The imperial patrimony Mediana, located as a suburb of Naissus on the Constantinople Heerstraße, formed another imperial summer residence of late antiquity on today's Serbian territory and, in addition to the imperial villa, consisted of a large commercial area in which huge pithoi were found. In addition, a 1.4 m deep round basin with a diameter of 2.8 m, as well as two approximately square basins of 3 × 3.40 and 3.23 × 3.16 m, the inner carefully smoothed surface of which was covered with hydraulic mortar , where oil and wine were stored.

The Roman era lasted at least a century longer in south-eastern Europe than in western Europe. Justinian I himself founded Justiniana Prima as the new ecclesiastical center of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum , which was designed entirely from the drawing board. The sixteen excavated basilicas and churches have proven the central spiritual function of the episcopal city in the Balkans, but the trading function can also be assumed to be significant due to the discovery of six trample, which were only discovered in 2014. From the liturgical use of wine during the great Christian festivals, the vine culture around what was then Justiniana gained further importance and is still one of the centers of Serbian viticulture in the Toplička regija. It is also considered the area of ​​origin and closer home of the Prokupac vine.

middle Ages

Wine cellar of the monastery Visoki Deçan in Velika Hoča , Metohija
Manasija Monastery, the spiritual center of Serbia at the time of the despots. In the right foreground the medieval dining building of the monastery, which owned numerous vineyards throughout the Serbian Empire.
Detail from the fresco Wedding at Cana, young man hands a glass of wine mixed with blood while the groom scratches the bride's finger with a sharp knife. Unknown Master von Kalenić, around 1413
Wine cellar in the "wine village" Rajac , Timočka Krajina

The spread of Christianity at the beginning of the Middle Ages had a particularly positive effect on the development of vine growing and viticulture in today's territory of Serbia, as the newly settled Slavs learned to make wine . The Serbian mansions of the Vlastimirovi ći and the Višeslavići from the 9th to 12th centuries had further influence on the further spread of viticulture . Viticulture flourished under the rule of the Nemanjids (12th-14th centuries). Monasteries as well as the country estates of the nobles became bearers of a developing great wine tradition. The monasteries planted their vineyards in so-called Metochi , monastic country estates. The metochi of the Visoki Dečani and Dević monasteries were in Velika Hoča , the metochi of the monastery of the Serbian Patriarchate Peć in Orahovac . In the course of archaeological investigations in Velika Hoča, pithoi were found which indicate a previous Roman tradition.

Viticulture was mentioned for the first time under Stefan Nemanja in the charter of the Studenica Monastery when he donated the surrounding vineyards to his burial place. At the end of his reign he transferred Velika Hoča as Metochi to the Hilandar Monastery in 1198/99 . As a metochi of the Athos monastery , Velika Hoča with its twelve churches developed into a spiritual center in which, in addition to the monks, numerous feudal lords also settled, who promoted the winery there. Furthermore, the designation Velika Hocas as Metochi on the entire landscape was west of the watershed of Sitnica and White Drin transferred (Metohija) .

Historical sources also mention that Stefan Nemanja received the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa with wine during the Third Crusade on his trip to the Holy Land in Niš in 1189.

All other Serbian rulers devoted themselves intensively to viticulture. Stefan Uroš II Milutin promoted viticulture in Kosovo, Stefan Dragutin as king of the Mačva in Pocerina and Syrmia.

During the reign of Tsar Stefan Dušan , viticulture was intensified around Prizren in Orahovac, Mala- and Velika Hoča and Suva Reka . Since the 13th century, the residences of the Serbian kings and tsars have been located around the so-called “tsar city” of Prizren. This was also made of ceramic in the transmission, 25 km long pipeline between the wine cellars Velika Hocas and Nemanjić -Weinkellern Carske vinarije (Czar wine cellar) mentioned in the residences Svrčin and Ribnik at Prizren.

When Stefan Uroš III. Dečanski built his burial place at Peć , he gave his burial place Visoki Dečani as well as wineries in Velika Hoča. The monastery vineyard and cellar (Vinarci manastira Visokog Dečana) still exist today . Metochian vines were exported to Belgrade and Smederevo during the reign of Đurađ Branković . A decree of Tsar Dušan from 1350, in which the valuation was set, regulated the export of metochian wines . Thus this agricultural property was of great economic importance in the feudal Serbian empire.

After the Serbian rulers gradually moved their former residences in Prizren and Skopje to the north, they also took autohtone varieties from Metohija with them on this route. New vineyards were built around the new residences in Kruševac , Belgrade and Smederevo . This is what the biographer of the despot Stefan Konstantin Kostenezki reported in the vita of the despot Stefan Lazarević in the chapter describing Serbia:

"In addition, many vineyards have been planted - and nowhere so effortlessly as in this country, (which) is abundant in seeds, plantings and fruits."

- Житије И Подвизи Увек Спомињанога, Славнога, Благостиога Господина Деспота Стефана, 1431

The despot Stefan Lazarević also determined his manasija monastery , which was surrounded by an eleven-tower wall as a grave site and became the intellectual and spiritual center of late medieval Serbian history and in its conception more of an "ideal" city than a simple monastery, through the extensive donation of estates and vineyards resembled:

"He handed over and bequeathed (to the monastery) villages and vineyards in his entire kingdom (and) confirmed this with his signature."

- Житије И Подвизи Увек Спомињанога, Славнога, Благостиога Господина Деспота Стефана, 1431

For example, the monastery had a multi-storey dining building for its populous monkhood, which included an important writing school, which is considered the largest medieval civil building in Serbia at that time.

Numerous frescoes of the late medieval Serbian despotate illustrate the cultic function that wine assumed as a sacrament in Christian spirituality and iconography. In an epoch characterized by an intimate and refined courtly art, the advance of the Turks after the Battle of the Amselfeld formed a historical section that was perceived as an end of time . An important fresco from the Palaiological Renaissance in the Kalenić monastery shows the wedding at Cana as an intimate representation of the anticipation of the martyrdom of Christ, which illustrates the biblical depiction of the miracle of wine in Cana. In the game of gestures between groom and bride, in which the groom scratches the bride's finger with a sharp knife around the ceremonial of an ancient pre-Christian custom - drinking blood mixed with wine - a deeper meaning is hidden in the typical Serbian combination of pagan and Christian customs . The wine of Cana is interpreted here as the coming blood of Christ and is exemplary in the sense of time of the Serbs in the late Middle Ages, who had the downfall of Byzantine culture and statehood in mind.

With the Ottoman conquest , wine production was banned; However, wine was illegally produced and traded among Serbian residents.

Growing areas

Wine regions of Serbia
Župska berba grožđa - Župa wine festival in Aleksandrovac. Wine fountain in Aleksandrovac decorated with Prokupac and Tamjanika vines
Vineyards in Orahovac, the origin of the blackbird field

Important wine-growing regions in Serbia are the Župska regija (Western Morava region - Aleksandrovac, Kruševac), Toplička regija (Toplicaregion - Prokuplje, Kuršumlija), Timočka regija (Timok region - Negotin, Knjaževac) and the Južnomoravranje regija (Southern Moravranje regija.

  1. Timočka regija
  2. Nišava - Južna Morava
  3. Župska regija
  4. Šumadija - Velika Morava
  5. Pocerina
  6. Sirmia
  7. Banat
  8. Subotica - Horgoš
  9. Metochia

sorts

Prokupac
Vranac

In addition to the autochthonous varieties, international varieties dominate Serbia's viticulture today. The regional varieties like the dominant Prokupac and Kadarka , Tamjanika , Smederevka , Vranac and Krstac be for varietal autochthonous wines or blends with Riesling , Pinot Noir , Gamay , Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vinogradarski Atlas - Dragoslav Ivanišević, Darko Jakšić, Nada Korać 2015 stat.gov.rs (PDF)
  2. ↑ International Wine Office (OIV), viticulture statistics worldwide 2010–2011.
  3. ↑ weinkenner.de
  4. ↑ stump and stem . In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1968 ( online ).
  5. ↑ weinkenner.de
  6. ↑ a b c PKB Kosovovino- Komerc DOO Belgrade (ed.): Elaborat o proizvodnju vina za oznakom zasticenog geografskog porekla sa podrucja prizrenskog vinogorja . Belgrade 1999, p. 3 ( zis.gov.rs [PDF; accessed on September 14, 2014] Elaborate carried out by the staff at the Institut za biljnu proizvodnju Peć).
  7. ↑ Predrag Nicic: Velika Hoca management plan. Restoration of Vineries and Lodgings . In: Universität Lund (ed.): Conservation and Management of Historic Buildings, 2007 . S. 2 ( hdm.lth.se [PDF; accessed September 14, 2014]).
  8. ↑ Predrag Nicic: Velika Hoca management plan. Restoration of Vineries and Lodgings . In: Universität Lund (ed.): Conservation and Management of Historic Buildings, 2007 . S. 1 ( hdm.lth.se [PDF; accessed September 14, 2014]).
  9. ↑ Vinogradarski Atlas - Dragoslav Ivanišević, Darko Jakšić, Nada Korać 2015, p. 8, stat.gov.rs (PDF)
  10. ↑ Istorija. In: Vinopedija, Internet portal o vinima Srbije. Retrieved September 14, 2014 (Serbian).
  11. ↑ Konstantin Filosof 1431: Живот Стефана Лазаревича, Деспота Српскога. Biblioteka Knjizevnost i Jezik, vol. 17., Chigoja, Belgrade 2007, ISBN 978-86-84885-19-9 , p. 18
  12. ↑ Konstantin Filosof 1431: Живот Стефана Лазаревича, Деспота Српскога. Biblioteka Knjizevnost i Jezik, Volume 17. Chigoja, Belgrade 2007, ISBN 978-86-84885-19-9 , p. 53
  13. ↑ PKB Kosovovino- Komerc DOO Belgrade (ed.): Elaborat o proizvodnju vina za oznakom zasticenog geografskog porekla sa podrucja prizrenskog vinogorja . Belgrade 1999, p. 4 ( zis.gov.rs [PDF; accessed on September 14, 2014] Elaborate carried out by the staff at the Institut za biljnu proizvodnju Peć).
  14. ↑ Vinogradarski Atlas - Dragoslav Ivanišević, Darko Jakšić, Nada Korać 2015 stat.gov.rs (PDF)
  15. ↑ weinkenner.de