An organic food and wine tasting journey of discovery to Serbia’s beautiful Šumadija Wine region. This 3 day short tour will introduce you to the wonderful wine and food culture of Western Serbia, through the stories and experiences of local experts. Learn to create authentic local dishes with home grown organic ingredients. Meet Serbia’s leading winemakers and taste wines made from indigenous grape varieties.

What to expect from the Cooking and wine experience of Šumadija tour

1st Day – Introduction to Šumadija wine scene

You will meet #YourSerbiaHost at your hotel or other place arranged for pickup and you’ll continue in the direction of east part of Šumadija region to visit two wineries, each of them with own approach to wine making. First on the route is Radovanović winery, whose owner is considered for one of the pioneers of modern Serbian wine making. He started his venture in the beginning of ’90s and now after almost 30 years he is one of top three wine producers in the country and most famous for his superb Cabernet Sauvignon, which won several international rewards. We’ll make a tour around the winery, learn about their wines and of course try few labels. Next stop is Despotika winery, young winery with ambitious owner whose goal is to make authentic Serbian wines from indigenous grape varieties, such as Morava and Prokupac. On the top of that their wines are aging in barrique barrels made from Serbian oak. Aside of local wine varieties you will try few other labels they produce, with learning what makes their wines special. From here we move to our destination for the evening and the next day, to village Mala vrbica and superb household House of Čolović where we’ll have a dinner made from organic food homegrown in their homestead.

2nd Day – Cooking class

On the second day after rich homemade breakfast we will begin our cookery course with supplying with necessary ingredients first, and since we’ll use only locally available food, season dependent, we will pick vegetables from the garden, or we will make a short stroll to the woods to pick up forest fruits or greens and ramsons for pie. Our host and guide is Ivan and his mother is our cooking instructor. After we supply with ingredients we will learn how to prepare traditional dishes typical for Šumadija, such as gibanica with cheese, different pies and lamb under sač, together with our hosts from House of Čolović. After our work is finished we will enjoy the fruits of our labor during an exquisite lunch. The rest of the day is independent to relax in the household by their pool or to explore the local area. When the night falls you’ll have rare opportunity to observe bright stars in the sky, since there is no light pollution around.

3rd Day – Wineries in the capital of Šumadija wine region

After breakfast on the third day we are saying farewell to Ivan and his mother and we are heading to town of Topola, known as capital of Šumadija wine region. Here we’ll visit three wineries, first en route is King’s wine cellar which was established by Yugoslavian king Alexandar Karađorđević in 1931. This winery is famous for its long tradition in wine making, even though there was discontinuity during socialism period. Today the winery is state owned and they produce four labels, you’ll have a chance to try all of those. From King’s wine cellar we continue to Aleksandrović winery which is considered for Serbia’s most prominent winery producing only premium wines, which are exported world round. Enologist from the winery will give us a tour around the production and the cellar end he will tell us what makes his wines so great. They produce too many labels for you to taste in a single tasting, but you’ll get to try just enough. And last stop on this tour is young and promising Arsenijević winery whose young owner Nemanja is enthusiastic young man with great passion for his wines. His family has long tradition in wine making, but he was the first in the family to take it to next level and to produce wine for the market, which can be found in many wine shops and restaurants in Serbia and Montenegro. Here we’ll enjoy Nemanja’s company during lunch and wine tasting where we’ll match food and his four wines.

After the lunch we depart to Belgrade which is only an hour drive away.

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