*Includes affIliate links for accommodation
One Friday morning a wine blogger Tomislav pulled over in front of our house with his Hyundai. He was to pick us up to go on a winery tour of Valjevo, a town in Western Serbia.
I wrote before about the fantastic wines of Serbia (unfortunately only in Finnish atm) and mentioned that there are a lot of wineries, but they are hard to reach without a car.
Again Tomislav stepped into the picture as if he had read my mind.
Earlier in the week he sent me a message, asking if we would potentially want to go on a wine tour of Valjevo.
We hadn’t gone outside of Belgrade all year, so we were more than excited for this little getaway.
At 8.30 a.m. Toma stood in front of our home gate, ready to hit the road.
On the road again
If you only visit the capital of Serbia you will miss out on the most spectacular scenery of the country, located just a short trip away from Belgrade.
Public transportation between Serbian cities is quite well arranged, but renting a car is almost mandatory if you want to reach the nature destinations. (Or finding friends who own cars, as we have been lucky enough to do.)
Alternatively, you can take the bus to the nearest small town and then hop into a taxi for the rest of the way, as taxi prices are reasonable. That might not be a bad idea, especially for inexperienced drivers.
As Serbia is located between EU countries, its highways have to bear the burden of the union’s through traffic.
As well as the flood of the summer vacationers heading from Germany to Turkey.
Serbians themselves, then again, will drive to beach destinations in Greece and Montenegro.
The roads in Serbia are not in the best of shape considering the amount of traffic, let alone the needs of the heavy goods transportation industry.
They are, however, being constantly repaired and in the future road tripping in Serbia will be easier and safer.
Thanks to the new highway between Belgrade and Valjevo, we arrived at the winery of Milijan Jelić just before 10 a.m., which is when the doors open for guests.
The trip that used to take even 3-4 hours now takes just over an hour.
Of course, for obvious reasons, the roads are quieter this year than ever.
Do not drink and drive, even if you are just a bit tipsy
Before you drive to the wineries for tastings, keep in mind that the legal limit for drunk driving in Serbia is a blood alcohol level of 0,02 %. An exception to this rule are motorcyclists, professional drivers, and amateurs, for whom the limit is exactly 0 %. So do not even entertain the thought of swallowing the drinks you taste at the wineries, if you plan to drive.
The traffic is dangerous enough when you are sober, especially on the old, narrow, and winding national roads. The drivers of the heavy-duty through-traffic tend to drive for several days without sleeping in between and may be drunk at worst. Speeding and aggressively rude passings are typical.
In fact foreigners cause a large share of road traffic deaths in Serbia.
If you plan to enjoy the wines more than just quickly tasting them, stay the night and do not go on adventures with your car.
There is an abundance of *affordable accommodation.
After these warnings, we are ready to drive through the winery’s gates and get down to business.
A surprise awaits in the wine cellar of Jelić
Wines have a long history in Serbia, but during the Ottoman Empire the wineries were transformed into fruit farms.
When the viticulture was later resumed and started again from scratch, farmers were able to start growing grapes that best suited the area.
Right now there is high demand for the products of small wineries in Serbia, and the wineries cannot even meet the needs of domestic demand.
Having started back in 2002, Vinarija Milijan Jelić has a leg up on the competition.
The production has long been stabilized and vintage wines have been bottled for years already. The quality is steady and the winery has accrued an abundance of professional knowledge.
The winery produces 17-18,000 bottles per year, using five different plots of land and 20 hectares for viticulture.
Being a relatively old winery, Jelić has the opportunity to let their wines mature well and this is indeed what they emphasize.
Newcomers are often burdened by the lack of financial resources.
They can’t afford to wait around as the wines need to be bottled and sold fast, so that the expenses can be covered.
Winery worker Milomir Tomić meets us at the door. At first he shows us around the production facilities and the cellar. When I look at the bottoms of the barrells, I’m surprised: One of them says Nebbiolo. (Or actually Nebiolo in Serbian.)
– The grape from Piemonte that is used for such humble products as Barolo and Barbaresco.
Milomir smiles proudly at my comment. He tells us that the growth conditions in Valjevo are very similar to those in Italy’s Piemonte. On these same latitudes the climate is naturally similar, and there are valleys and hills, and also temperature changes and fog.
Milomir has good reason to be proud: Nebbiolo is a very demanding grape. It requires very particular growth conditions and is easily susceptible to diseases. The grapes are mainly still picked by hand. This raises the price of the wines made from it.
Even Finnish winemaker Riikka Sukula told me that Barolo is the only wine besides Champagne that you can earn a living with when you just have a very small vineyard and small production amounts. I met Sukula a couple years ago at their family winery Azienda Agricola Sukula in Serralunga d’Alba during a reporting gig.
If you read Finnish, you can see more on our post Viinitilan herratar Riikka Sukula janoaa oppia.
Getting to the point – wine tasting
We move onwards to the tasting room of Vinarija Milijan Jelić. The menu tells us that a wine tasting of four wines costs 360 Serbian Dinars (around 3 euros).
After we’ve already tried six different wines Milomir suddenly asks if we would also maybe want to try the Nebbiolo.
No need to ask us twice!
This special treat is definitely not part of the usual tasting set, so Milomir springs downstairs to the cellar to get us a half a glass of this rarity from the only barrel containing it in the winery.
The Jelić estate produces about 500-700 liters of this wine per year. After the Nebbiolo we were certain that we had completed the tasting.
I move to look at the menu to try to decide what to buy home.
Tomislav invites me back toward the tasting glasses. Milomir wants to introduce one more wine to us!
A growing trend of orange wine
It’s an orange wine that competes with rosé as a summer wine and that has become slightly trendy too.
Orange wine is actually the most original wine that has been produced for thousands of years already.
It’s basically white wine but the grape peels are not removed in the beginning of the production. Instead they are left in for a bit to bring the wine some color.
Pinot grigio is the grape most often used for the production of orange wine, as it releases a lot of color.
Even at the Jelić winery Pinot grigio is used for white wine, but for orange wine they use Morava instead, which is a more typical grape in the area. It has also given the Jelić wine its name, Morange.
Prokupać is another grape that is typical in the area.
A Rakija country turning toward wines
Tomislav tells us that so far Serbians only consume 13,5 liters of wine annually per person.
Sparkling wines are solely reserved for big parties, such as weddings.
As the consummation goes up, Serbians will be ready to get to know other grapes as well.
All of the eight wines of Milijan Jelić are amazingly full of personality and different from one another.
We end up choosing five of them to take home. Six bottles together as we decide to take two bottles of a particular red wine so that we would dare to enjoy one of them soon already.
We even select a white and an orange wine, though we are generally more red wine people.
Also the bottle of Nebbiolo joins us so that it can mature some more while awaiting for a special occasion.
There are good wine stores in Belgrade too, but the prices are very affordable at the wineries. So it’s good to reserve some money for souvenir shopping.
As we leave, we meet a French vintner at the door. It’s his first time visiting a Serbian winery.
Apparently his wife hails from Valjevo.
But, this is, however, not just a wine tour in Valjevo. We plan to do other sightseeing as well.
We continue our journey with six wine bottles in the trunk. – Happily thinking to ourselves that if there’s another covid lockdown, at least we are stocked up with some good wine!
The Rock of Lazarus
The rolling hills of Valjevo are very charming.
This is where the continental climate meets the Mediterranean climate, and the flora and fauna are diverse.
The cypresses remind us of Italy, and there are even lots of wild orchids growing here.
The town center with its old houses is itself also worth a visit. This picturesque town is used as a movie set for films placed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
We drove on the winding roads past a man-made lake and onto the viewpoint of Lazarov kamen, the rock of Lazarus.
After spending half of the year in the center of a megacity, it feels great to get to smell the forest and to walk in natural terrain.
Luckily the hike is not a long one.
It doesn’t take long to notice that the covid-era couch potato life has not helped us to maintain our trekking shape.
Even mild inclines in the heat bring out the sweat.
Once we reach the top, we state that the scenery would be worth an even bigger effort.
We go near the cliff’s edge to admire the green waters that flow down below. Also the mountain views shining on the opposite side.
The Pustinja Monastery preserves Serbian history
Driving around the area we pay attention to a Serbian peculiarity – tombstones on the yards of private homes.
I had noticed this earlier and had wondered whether this could be related to local religious customs. I’d asked about this from several Serbs but nobody seemed to have an explanation.
Toma, who is from Western Serbia, was finally able to shed some light on the issue.
Owning land is important in the mountainous regions. The reason for the custom was simply the thought that by burying the parents in the yard, the land was more likely to stay within the family.
If you had sold the lot with its graves, it would have been like – literally – selling your own grandma.
Even if the reason behind this custom is pragmatic, religion is important to local people, most of whom are adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The country has an abundance of small monasteries. Some are newer but there are also older ones.
Some of them have made it to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This time we choose to head to the lesser known Pustinja Monastery.
Part of the monastery is newer, but its church dates back to the 1200s.
Because of its remote location, both the Ottoman and German conquerors let it exist in peace.
Even the name of the monastery translates to “desert.”
The church’s original frescos from the 1500s have also remained in good shape.
Photography is not allowed inside the church, but you can still admire the spectacular frescos.
Entrance is free, but I recommend that you buy a couple of bee’s wax candles made by the nuns or leave a small tip so that future generations can also admire the monastery.
Be sure to bring some longer clothing, too, so that you can cover your knees and shoulders.
Some more treats from Valjevo
The afternoon is already quite far along. We still want to stop at one more viewpoint, even though we could see plenty of amazing scenery from the car windows too while driving along the mountain roads.
The viewpoint of Kapija Podrinja is located right next to the road, and therefore is a popular stopover spot.
Some other travelers have also stopped to admire the views.
We just make a quick stop, and then rush onwards to go have some lunch.
Toma has selected the fish restaurant Vidra for our lunch spot. It’s located near the center of Valjevo, on the banks of the Gradać river.
As Serbia is landlocked, you’ll get the best fish on your plate in the mountainous regions.
The clean springs and streams are home to brown trouts, for example.
Some of those swim to our plates, too.
The most eager people can even do their own fishing, as long as they get their fishing permits sorted.
We skip out on fishing, at least this time. Instead we go for a short walk in the center of Valjevo where we enjoy a cup of coffee.
Then it’s time to start driving back toward our hometown of Belgrade.
Who is Tomislav?
Tomislav Ivanović is a Serbian wine professional and wine blogger.
His blog Vinopedia is in the Top 3 of Serbian wine blogs and is the only one also published in English.
Focusing on Serbian wines, Vinopedia was selected as the best wine blog in Europe in 2016.
Where to find accommodation in Valjevo?
This time we just did a day trip to Valjevo, but if you would like to take a longer break in the city and stay overnight, there are plenty of affordable accommodation options.
We prefer apartments over hotels and it’s actually very typical in Balkan area to rent “apartmani”. Booking small, family run apartments are also a great way to get to know locals.
In November 2019 we stayed at *this humble but clean apartment with friendly owners right in the center of Valjevo.
It cost around 20 euros per night.
Where to rent a car?
If you’re arriving to Serbia by flight and your plan is to start driving around the country, I recommend renting the car already at the airport.
On the other hand, if you plan to spend a few days in the center of Belgrade, it’s best to hop on a bus or a taxi from the airport and pick up the rental car only after you leave the center.
If you’re planning to drive on highways and mountains, which you most certainly will when coming to Serbia, it’s not ideal to rent the smallest car possible, even if the prices for the small cars seem alluring.
You can get more efficient and safer bigger cars for affordable prices as well.
If you plan to do a bigger road trip around the Balkans, please do double check the rental car’s insurance coverage and whether you have permission to drive the car outside of Serbia.
Translated from the original text Viinimatkalla Valjevossa by Mirva Lempiäinen.
Mirva is a US-educated travel writer from Finland living in the French Caribbean.
Her blog is at Guadeloupeguide.com.