Prokupac Day- Step Further

Prokupac Day- Step Further

Establishing wines from Eastern Europe in the high quality range ones together with wines from well known world wine regions, has been one of the challenges the wineries from this part of the world have been facing for the past few years. Putting a certain grape variety into perspective, especially a local or a regional one, enables creating a variety brand that will easily help those wines be recognized by the wider wine audicence and find their place in the on or off trade.

Prokupac Day, the brain child of Igor Lukovic, owner & editor-in-chief of Vino & Fino magazine and Tomislav Ivanovic, editor-in-chief of Vinopedia http://www.vinopedia.rs/sr/, celebrated its fifth anniversary this year. The idea behind the project is to bring attention to the indigenous Serbian grape variety Prokupac and the creators have managed to do so due to several reasons. Firstly, they’ve put their focus on celebrating the grape variety and strengthening it’s brand as such firstly in Serbia & the local winemakers just had to follow the idea. Many of them would be sceptical when Prokupac was in question due to their struggle with the grape variety either in the cellar or the vineyards, depriving it from the splendor the wines from this variety can be obtained & rather planting international varieties on the expense of local ones. Finally, after five years, they have either started planting (rather replanting) more of it, investing in the cellar, and were finally convinced that the results this local variety can give can be quite rewarding.

Prior to the Prokupac conference held on 14th October, a wine trip was organized through some of the wineries producing Prokupec in the regions of Shumadija & Tri Morave so to taste the different styles of this variety.  
Grabak Winery, located in Zhupa region, on one of the hills surrounding Vrnjachka Banja, is well known for winning this year’s first golden award for Prokupec variety for their Vivak Prokupac 2017 which so much reminded me of some Piedemont reds. My first encounter with Prokupac variety (waaaay back in 2012) was with Ivanovic’s. It is no surprise that this Serbian winemaker, so many years later, still stands on the top of Serbian Prokupac producers. His Prokupac 2017 (on the market within a year), can only be considered as a superior wine & one to be regarded as a style to follow. 

Budimir winery owns some of the oldest Prokupac vines in Zhupa, the 100 year old bush vines at Gubovac location and their Prokupac Boje Lila 2013 is definitely to be admired. Moving further north in the region of Shumadija, Temet winery offered a range of Prokupac wines in different styles ranging from the highlights would be their Prokupac 2019 that underwent spontaneous fermentation & is currently being aged in 850 L amphoras since (they also have the same vintage put in 500 L French oak). And though I preferred the first as it was fresh, vibrant & fruity, the second one was another proof that Prokupac marries better with higher liter barrels. In addition to modern styles of Prokupac we tasted at Temet, a special attention was given to pairing the wines with carefully prepared amuse bouche for each of them. One more winery that offers good Prokupac is Despotika winery and their Zmajeviti Prokupac is fruity, easy quaffable wine for every occasion. Virtus winery ahowed to have one of the best roses from predominanlty Prokupac variety that has married well with Cabernet Sauvignon & Marselan. Their Prokupac 2016 won 91 points at this year’s Decanter Awards 2020 & Prokupac 733 2017, elegant & big wine, offerring fruity with dark chocolate notes, ripe orange skins, silky tannins and gripping acidity is another example that Prokupac can give high quality wines. 

Prokupac Conference- Taste the Difference, Taste Prokupac

The one day conference on Prokupac, held at Radisson Collection in Belgrade, brought carefully selected lecturers and topics that kept changing from serious ones such as Viticulture of Prokupac by Dr. Slavica Todic & Genetics of Balkan vines by Dr. Natasha Shtajner, Faculty of Agronomy in Ljubljana, to interesting & funny ones such as Prokupac Mythbuster- History, Myths & Legends by Tomislav Ivanovic. The master class Prokupac on the International Wine Scene by Thomas Curtious MW (given online), gave clear directions on all concerning matters from how to label to where to market the wines from this variety.

For me the highlights were Creating Wine Region Identity through Indigenous Varieties by, as always, the marvelous Robert Gorjak, owner of WSET school Belvin in Slovenia & long time lecturer, asking all the right questions to the winemakers present and rather than giving answers, asking additional spot on questions on the positioning of Prokupac wines in the on or off trade, blended with other varieties or not, the difficulty the wine consumers will find in pronounication of Prokupac or lack thereof etc. More was said during the master class & wine tasting Step Further given by Igor Lukovic & Tomislav Ivanovic where as Lukovic put it: Prokupac has earned the reputation of a legitimate wine!

The Prokupac week ended with Prokupac Wine Salon where 30 Serbian wineries showcased their wines made from Prokupac which was followed by concert by the fenomenal Vasil Hadzimanov band.

Prokupac wines have gone far from what they were few years ago- the styles have obviously changed ranging from the old good rustic one still cherished mostly in Zhupa & old traditional barrel aged ones to more fruity ones undergoing spontaneous fermentation, amphoras are more and more used and the barriques are less or only partially used at the expense of bigger barrels (where apparently Prokupac shows better results). The Serbian winemakers have finally started to appreciate the variety instead of avoiding it like they did in the past- and finally it paid of. Proof for this is winning the first gold at Decanter this year. Prokupac Day, which today is a sort of a movement in Serbia, has allowed this grape variety to be praised not only in Serbia, but also world wide.

My top Prokupec wines ( ones not to miss) would be Ivanovic Prokupac 2017 (on the market within a year), Temet Tri Morave Reserve 2017, Grabak Vivak Prokupac 2017, Doja Breg 2017, Prokupac – Zachinak 2018 by Matalj winery, Chokot Radovan Prokupac 2017, Despotika Zmajeviti Prokupac 2017 & Prokupac White 2019 by Milanov Podrum (one of the very pleasant suprises for me).