Old World, new wines

One of the great things about London, if you are interested in wine, is the large number of tastings on offer on a more or less regular basis, some for trade only but others open to the public for a, usually modest, price. This has long been the case, though the content of tastings has changed to reflect the changes in the wine world. Recently I attended one such tasting by the Association of Wine Cellarmen, a long-established group based on, as the name implies, people involved in the cellaring of wines but now also comprised of many members outside the trade.

The tasting revolved around wines from (the former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia, now known confusingly by Macedonia alone. I say confusingly because Macedonia as a geographical area includes parts of Greece, where Macedonia is a protected geographical indication area within EU regulations, but also bits of Bulgaria and Serbia, Kosovo, even Albania. Still, politicians will have to work these things out while we mortals struggle on with our little lives and try to make sense of it all.

While it was part of Serbia the area was a prolific producer of, mainly indifferent, wines in some quantity. In recent years investment has gone into the local wine industry and, as a direct consequence, the wines produced are of a much higher - and consistent - quality;  I was very curious indeed to try this new lot and see for myself. The wines we tasted were all from the STOBI winery, named after the ancient town whose ruins are nearby, and a modern, large producer (500 hectares, 4,5 million litres) with extensive, sophisticated facilities.

We kicked off with four white wines, all of the 2013 vintage and much better for the extra bottle age. All were well-made, clean and serious:

1. The first wine, made from the local Zhilavka grape variety, had a golden colour, a fruity modern nose, equally fruity on the palate with high acidity and a long and slightly bitter finish. Not to my taste.

2. This was the Stobi Cuvee, made from R'kaciteli, Zhilavka and Zhupljanka grapes (yes, all local), had a light golden colour with subtle green fruit on the nose. I found it better balanced than the previous, with a rounded palate and long finish, a food wine.

3. An unoaked Chardonnay came next, bright golden in colour, creamy slightly green typical Chardonnay nose with sweet fruit and a decent glug of green fruit (unripe mirabelle?) on the palate, balanced, long finish ending with a bitter aftertaste - for me, another food wine.

4. Muscat Ottonel is part of the Muscat family, though less distinctive, and in this incarnation was greeny gold in colour, had spicy oregano fruit on the nose and delicate complex green fruit on the palate, once again with a long, bitter finish. The most interesting of the whites?

The reds were a mixture of local and international varieties, all from the (apparently excellent) 2011 vintage, with the Vranec grape variety providing the local presence and Petit Verdot and Syrah the foreign interlopers:

5. Stobi Vranec had deep, rather vibrant, red colour and ripe, plummy fruit on the nose. On the palate it was cram full of complex ripe red berry fruit, balanced with good tannins and a long finish - a lovely wine to glug on a cold night with or without food. The star of the evening? I would have liked some of this but, alas, it is now sold out, and the current vintage is 2013.

6. Vranec Veritas Reserve is the 'big, serious' brother/sister to the above, with a deep, dense, almost black red colour, a woody, sightly sweet, slightly oxidised nose full of ripe cherry fruit and a big and tannic palate, creamy red fruit and good long aftertaste. A bit of a beast, needing time?

7. The Petit Verdot I have always considered as completing a blend, not free-standing, so I was pleased to see this example with its ripe, dark colour and its sweeter berry nose, ripe and clean. The palate was ripe, tannic, with a good balance of ripe cherry fruit and a long, slightly green, finish. It seems to need more time, but how will it age?

8. These days Syrah is found all over the world; unsurprisingly, since it gives us some lovely reds almost wherever it's grown. This example had a nice dark colour and a refined, delicate if rich nose - red fruit creme brûlée? On the palate it was ripe and tannic, full of not sweet red berry fruit, with a long finish.

It was very gratifying to see so many well-made wines coming from a new winery in an old world area, even if I feel there is plenty of room for improvement, especially in the whites. The presentation is also very smart and tasteful, as can be seen from the photographs of the empty bottles; remains to be seen how eye-catching it is on an international wine shelf, especially the U.K., where competition is so fierce. I do find the wines quite ambitiously priced, though, at this stage of the winery's career and feel that their reputation in the international markets needs to be a bit better established before they can charge a tenner a bottle, or more for the more serious reds. If wines are to be successful on the big international stage their producers will have to look carefully at their strategy (quality and price-wise) and forget about their success in whatever local market they occupy.

Dear wine producers, please remember that being too ambitious at the outset without the quality and class to match your marketing is just as bad if not worse than not being ambitious at all.