Sonata wine from Smederevo for Austrians and Germans – Jeremic winery boosts exports and builds new cellar, wine tasting room and suites

Despite the blow caused by the failure of famous Godomin, Smederevo does not give up the intention of returning to the old paths of vine growing fame. Young small vineries have taken over the leading role.

Jugovo-based winery Jeremic is one of those proving better days are yet to come. It is famos for its musical wines. After the success of white Sonata and red Kanon (Canon), they are getting ready to offer rose wine for the first time this year. At the same time, they are finishing the construction of its new wine cellar and suites.

The winery owner, Slavoljub Jeremic, is not hiding satisfaction with the fact that he will soon open the door of the new winery to the first guests. A tourist facility in Jugovo, on the road from Grocka to Smederevo, occupies some 600 square meters. It is a wine cellar with a wine tasting room for 80 people as well as five suites. The construction started in 2012 and the works are nearing their end – interior design is in progress. The winery is based on an idea by Jeremic, while Petar Budina, an architect, drew the designs.

The idea is, as our interlocutor says, to return the Smederevo region to its tradition – viticulture and tourism.

- Tourists will be able to tour cellars, to see the process of wine production, to taste it and to sleep over so that they could have the entire tour – visit the Smederevo fortress and other sights – Jeremic says, adding that he is very proud of the fact that they are financing the entire project from their own resources.

Sonata from Smederevo

Being a musician by vocation, Jeremic transferred his love for music into viticulture. This is where wines with melodies come from – Kanon and Sonata.

- We produce some 20.000 liters per year and apart from Serbia, our bottles are sold in Montenegro and Austria. We are planning soon to start exports to Germany and we are just negotiating with a company from that country – our interlocutor says.

Last year was very successful for Jeremic wines. They participated in the prestigious wine fair AVC in Vienna, where Kanon won a gold medal in its category and Sonata a silver one. This year, for the first time, they will launch rose wine. It was bottled in early March and they are waiting for the label. It will also join the musical family and will be called Rondo, as we found out at the Jeremic winery.

Kanon is made of a mixture of grape juices Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon which complete each other, while Sonata, as people at the winery say, is a typical example of the high potential of the Sauvignon Blanco variety.

- Splendor and freshness of basil-like, elder-like and apple-like scent creates a melodic overture thus announcing something special, splendorous and likable – that is Sonata.

The Jeremic winery was set up and registered in 2010, in line with the new Regulations on Wine Registry of Serbia, as a branch office of EKO mineral company which is engaged in the production of protective plant agents.

They provide grapes mostly from their own production. They have a vineyard on some 3.2 ha and they are planning to expand the capacity.

As winemakers say, vine growing in Jugovo is a tradition spanning few thousand years - the first traces are found in Roman chronicles from the time of the reign of Emperor Marco Aurelio Probo in the 3rd century B.C.

- Sandy structure of the land, Sumadija's hills and the strength of the Danube are a gift of the nature leaving no man indifferent, from the old Romans till today. A specific geographical position is completed with especially pleasant rose of winds created by the Danube, turning very strong air flow into a constant breeze which brings freshness and has a mild effect on grape vine – people at the Jeremic winery underline.

Jugovo as popular picnic grounds

Smederevo Mayor Jasna Avramovic has recently visited the Jeremic winery and announced that tourism in that region will be developing at a faster rate than now. As she said on that occasion, the city intends to build a recreational and tourist facility with a swimming pool in Jugovo and to regenerate the beach on the Danube in order to make this place a popular picnic grounds not only for the citizens of Smederevo, but also for people from Belgrade.

M.S.