A Talk With The Winemaker

By love-europe
5 months Ago

Chateau Kamnik, Skopje, North Macedonia, copyright BKWine Photography

BKWine Photography

One of the pioneers of wine in North Macedonia is Chateau Kamnik. This year it celebrates its twentieth anniversary. It was founded in 2004 and made its first wine in 2008. Today, it is one of the leading producers of quality vranec in this Balkan country where wine has been made for thousands of years.

“How can that be?”, you might ask. A 20-year-old winery, a pioneer in a country with millennia-long wine history?

It is a story that is similar to that of many of the countries in central and eastern Europe. For many years, during the cold war, the wine industry still existed but was focused on making large quantities of cheap wines. It was the production model of the Soviet Union. This virtually eliminated quality winemaking, which was only revived after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

For North Macedonia, it was similar but different; it was part of Yugoslavia. It was only after Yugoslavia disintegrated in the early 1990s and its provinces became independent countries (North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Slovenia) that quality again became important. Returning to Chateau Kamnik then, it was barely ten years later that it was founded. A new wine world in an old wine country.

Chateau Kamnik is today one of the leading producers of vranec wines in Macedonia, vranec being the emblematic grape of the country. Attesting to its quality is the fact that in the Balkan Vranec Selection by CMB competition that took place in late 2023, one of Kamnik’s wines was awarded a gold medal and named one of five “revelations”.

Sandra Krstevska (Georgievska), winemaker at Chateau Kamnik, Macedonia, with an experimental rosé, copyright BKWine Photography

BKWine Photography

A little while back, at the occasion of the Vranec Selection by CMB competition, I had the opportunity to meet with Chateau Kamnik’s winemaker, Sandra Krstevska (sometimes spelled Georgievska), one of the few (too few) women winemakers I’ve encountered in Macedonia. I wanted to ask Sandra some questions about vranec, so we sat down in a corner of their winery, each with a glass of Kamnik’s vranec in our hands. As I mentioned, Kamnik is this year, 2024, celebrating its 20th anniversary and Sandra has been there for fourteen years, since 2010, almost (but not quite) from the very first vintage. (The interview was made late last year, 2023, which is why she says 13 and not 14 as it is today.)

Vranec is a grape variety quite unique to the Balkans. Several of the countries mentioned above grow it, but Macedonia has the biggest plantings. It often gives quite powerful wines with very dark colour, masses of fruit, both black and red, very sprightly acidity, and full-bodied with plenty of tannins to give structure. It is generally a wine that goes well with grilled meat, duck, stews, or other substantial dishes. However, the styles differ; you can even find lighter styles that are excellent for poolside drinking (although that would be unusual). It is a grape that, in some ways, is the essence of Macedonian wine.

Many famous people have visited Chateau Kamnik:

A wine barrel signed by John Malkovich, at Chateau Kamnik, North Macedonia, copyright BKWine Photography

BKWine Photography

I asked Sandra Krstevska if she would agree with me that vranec is like the soul of Macedonian wines, “Yes, but also, it’s very difficult for making wine because it’s very wild; in the process of fermentation and in ageing process – every day is different.” In other words, it is a grape that can give outstanding results, but as a winemaker, you have to know what you do and control the winemaking process and not let the wine run away from you. Or as Sandra puts it, “You can make vranec for everyday drinking and vranec to drink one glass at the end of the dinner with a cigar or selected cheeses. So, vranec is a very blessed variety to make different types of wine, actually.”

Watch the whole interview with Sandra Krstevska on this video:

What, then is it Sandra tries to bring out in her vranec wines, I asked. “I want it to taste in harmony like every other wine. But, for vranec in particular, you have to feel the muscles and the heavy body and the oiliness and concentration of the anthocyans. Because it’s almost black. And on the other hand, to feel the harmony and not feel the alcohol. Like in amarone-style — there you feel the alcohol and sugar. But here (in vranec) you feel the freshness, the body, and also everything to be silky. It was very nicely said by one of the masters of wines: it is an iron fist in a velvet glove.”

Vranec/vranac grapes on a vine in North Macedonia ready for harvest, copyright BKWine Photography

BKWine Photography

Chateau Kamnik, like most wineries in North Macedonia, makes a wide range of wines, not only vranec. You can find cabernet sauvignon, riesling, pinot noir, etc, and also local varieties like temjanika, kratoshija, zhilavka, smederevka and more. But this “wild” vranec, does it have any particular challenges for a winemaker, so as not to let it go too wild? Sandra explains, “Comparing it with different varieties like syrah and merlot – (with these varieties) you know what will happen in fermentation and after fermentation.” But vranec is not so easy… Sandra continues, ”Vranec took me years to understand, that it’s a fighter. It’s changing a lot. One day, when you taste it, it will be open, like it’s oxidating. And if you don’t analyse the wine, you will think it needs sulphites to conserve the wine. And another day, it’s reductive (the opposite), like closed without oxygen, so that it needs more oxygen, you need to bring oxygen for it to open up. So, it just needs patience and time and proper ageing in barrels.”

Talking to Sandra, who’s been making it for fourteen years, it certainly seems like a complicated wine to make. But one that is definitely worth the while, thinking of the result. And as Sandra pointed out, it needs patience, not only from the winemaker but also from the consumer. It can be a fabulous wine for ageing in the cellar. And, of course, for drinking.

—Per Karlsson

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