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Based in Kavadarci, Macedonia, Tikve? is the largest winery not only in Macedonia but also in the whole of south-eastern Europe.

The Tikve? region is a part of Macedonia abounding in natural beauty, with a distinctive habitat and climate, important cultural and historical sites, and a very long tradition of grape growing and wine making.

The Tikve? region occupies the central part of the Republic of Macedonia; it is situated about a hundred kilometres south of Skopje, around the middle section of the River Vardar. The sub-Mediterranean climate is prevalent here, characterized by long, hot summers and mild and rainy winters. Spring is shorter and fresher here, and autumn is longer and warmer.

The ratio between produced red and white wines is 50:50. The most widely grown grape varieties are Smederevka (white) and Krato?ija (red).

The range of produced wines depends on the vintage, but the list of wines they produce as quality wines (a step above table wines) could be wrapped up as:

Reds: Krato?ija, T?ga za Jug, Teran, Alexandria, Merlot, Burgundec, Kavadarka, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vranec and Rose

Whites: Belan, Riesling, Traminec, Smederevka, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Temjanika and Alexandria.

For the ?Special Selection? wines Tikve? has chosen the highest quality grapes and turned them into their best wines. In the red wine range these are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Vranec, while in the white wine range these are Chardonnay, Riesling, Temjanika and Traminec. The Special Selection wines come with a distinctive label.

Technorati Tags: Macedonia Wines, Macedonia, Tikves

I have been drinking quite a lot of 1996 Penfolds 407 recently and maybe that colours my impression of this wine, but I drank it young and loved it, and now I like it even better. An outstanding wine with plenty of years to go. I don’t taste wines blind generally and I don’t care to. I even read other people’s tasting notes before reviewing but I still manage to form my own opinion. I could give you a dozen reasons for not tasting blind and I am sure advocates of blind tasting could give me a dozen reasons why I should! Be that as it may I’ll stick to my guns for now. ‘That’s me in the corner.That’s me in the spotlight…I thought that I heard you laughing.’ I already know I am out of step with many on this wine but so be it.

Full red purple. Aromas of blackcurrant pastille, licorice, tobacco, dried herbs, mint and delicate spicy cedar vanilla oak. On the palate medium to full bodied with blackcurrant, tobacco, star anise, coffee and some gamey earthy flavours. Tight and compact with firm fine grained tannins and clean fresh acidity. Finishes dry and long with blackcurrant and tobacco flavours. A brilliant wine, one for the long haul, and one I am most certainly going to purchase for the cellar.

For those who have been around the wine blog-o-sphere for a few years, the Caveman's blog was a gem.  Bill Z. offered world class wine knowledge with a down-to-earth attitude.  Like many blogs (this one included) the Caveman posted less regularly, and then poof!  it became frozen in time (kind of like Han Solo in Empire). 

Well, my pal Bill, the Caveman, is back and writing for the Montreal Gazette.  It's good to see his voice is being appreciated by those lucky folks in Quebec.

"It was my first evening back working the floor as a sommelier. I was invigorated after an exceptional week touring and tasting wine in France's Languedoc-Roussillon.
My second table that night was a couple from France, so I started going on and on about the place, even recommending to them one of my favourite wines from the region. They looked at me and said, "Yes, it's beautiful there, but we would never drink their wines."

Read the rest of the column here.

Good on ya Bill!

It?s been a very busy week, but after my nice catching up session with Google Reader, here are some treasures worth noting from the RSS pileup:

1) Catavino?s Rioja Report and EWBC 2008: Gabriella and Ryan over at Catavino have made a labor of love?an ambitious sort of compendium that is all things Rioja. From regional gastronomy to what else? Los vinos! You can find maps, profiles of wineries, beautiful photography and even a comprehensive explanation of Rioja labeling practices. I also found their buying guide particularly valuable and look forward to bringing it along on some shopping trips in the near future. This kind of stuff is a privilege to be able to look at when you consider other ?regional reports? published by people with a sense of entitlement to wine travel and $60+ annual subscription fees. Ryan and Gabriella are accountable for their material, actively and genuinely elicit and value readers? opinions, suggestions and evince passion for this stuff, so go ahead and bookmark them.

2) Speaking of La Rioja, check out the page for this summer?s inaugural European Wine Bloggers Conference.

3) Remember Mr. Show?s Worthington Law applied to wine? Looks like the research findings from that CalTech/Stanford study published earlier in the year have been further validated. Working Paper No, 16, published by the American Association of Wine Economists details a new study in which people generally preferred less expensive wines, unless told by researchers of course, that a wine was particularly expensive.

4) If you read Spanish and want to stay up on the latest happenings in the Mendoza wine industry, you may want to bookmark El Blog de Vinos de Argentina. I have been reading their blog for some time now and have found it more and more valuable in terms of getting an inside track on what they?re thinking in Mendoza. As an Argentine, I?ve become a bit tired of receiving my Argentine wine industry news solely from the perspective of English-language consumer magazines. In the Argentine wine-sense, I?m approaching the sort of frustration many over here are feeling with news sources like CNN and FOX?it?s unfortunately limited for my needs. I may not be alone in wanting something like this?I really feel that things would get interesting if insiders from many wine regions only generally covered by shiny-cover magazines began communicating their perspectives directly to readers in a couple of other languages.

5) I would like to issue a preliminary warning before checking out this final note...it is cringe-inducing. I caught this on an Argentine website related to wine news. You'll click on the link and notice the article is written in Spanish, but that won't deter you from making the appropriate inference...Madonna will be contracting some local producer to lovingly craft her own label of Malbec. My comments? Oh hell no. Truthfully though, the nausea actually set in when I read that the label will reportedly be named after "Evita." Whether you are a foreigner and think Evita was a great person or an Argentine who may have the courage to speak up and express a more balanced perspective for the legacy of this famous political figure, one thing's for sure, Madonna could have chosen ANY OTHER variety cultivated in ANY OTHER country. Why us, oh God why us?

I have a whole bench full of wines open tonight. Many of them I will re-taste tomorrow but no need to wait with this wine. It is delicious and ready right off the bat and at the price point that is exactly what is required. It would be a shame to wait any longer.

Strong purple colour. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate cake, camphor, dark tobacco and cedar vanilla oak. On the palate full bodied and packed with blackberry, chocolate dipped cherry, coffee and tobacco flavours. Lush fat fruit lazing on a bed of ripe soft tannin. Entirely decadent but satisfaction is guaranteed. Outstanding drink now value.

How many times have you bought a wine based on a promotional price?  Or bought multiple wines you didn’t really want because of a three for two type offer?  We may be all falling for “artificial promotions” that are anything but a good deal. 

According to a fascinating article in The Guardian, brought to our attention by regular Bottletalker Wine-Scribbler, up to 80% of sales of some wine brands are generated through “half price” offers that are anything but genuine.

There are some good quotes in the article from wine industry insiders confirming that what have long been speculated to be dubious “offers” are exactly that and give no real value to the wine drinker at all.

 Read more for the full story.

George and Elsa Vare love the white wine blends of Italy and have devoted Vare Vineyards to the pursuit of making this style of wine in Napa Valley. They are not new to the wine business having co-founded Luna Vineyards and this experience shows in the bottle. I first tasted Vare wines at the recent Wine 2.0 event at Crushpad in San Francisco and was excited to try their very limited production Bianco Riserva 2005 as part of the Wine Spy for a Day program. The Wine Spies are also offering free ground shipping on 4 bottles or more for all Winecast readers by entering promotional code “WINECASTLUVSME”.

A blend of 40% Ribolla Gialla, 25% Pinot Grigio, 22% Tocai Friulano, 10% Sauvignon Blanc and 3% Chardonnay grown in Napa Valley, Vare Bianco Riserva 2005 is unique in several ways. First, this is the only winery with plantings of Ribolla Gialla in the US, a variety from Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region where it’s blended with Tocai Friulano. The wine spends an extra few months in once used French Oak barrels than it’s sibling Bianco which produces a more complex wine both aromatically and in it’s flavor profile. An finally, this is one of the few wines packaged in 500 ml bottles as requested by Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant. This results in one of the best Cal-Ital white blends I’ve tasted to date.

Vare Vineyards, Bianco Riserva 2005 ($45/500ml/sample) - The straw color is a result of barrel fermentation and aging but the aromas are not overpowered by the influence of wood. This wine has a very pleasing bouquet of citrus, tropical fruit, walnut and a hint of clove. Complex but refreshing grapefruit and pineapple fruit flavors finishing with nice acidity and a creamy, lees element. An excellent food wine and would make a great starter to an Italian meal but with only 20 cases produced, you better act now.

14.5% ABV
Synthetic cork closure
Score: 90
[rating:4/5]

Buy this wine at Wine Spies for $35 today only!

And don’t forget to enter discount code “WINECASTLUVSME” when you check out for free ground shipping on orders of 4 bottles or more.

Thanks to Agent Red for recruiting me and Agent White for selecting such a nice wine to taste. Look for other wine bloggers to be Wine Spies for a Day in coming days.

Merlot lovers, rejoice! A new documentary film made in response to the post-Sideways Merlot backlash (read more on that here) is about to debut. That's right, Merlove, made by Napa filmmaker Rudy McClain, is set to screen Tuesday, May 27th at COPIA in Napa. The film apparently includes footage of renowned Merlot makers from...

Dear Dr. Gott: Just thought I would share something I recently discovered that may be a help to your postmenopausal readers who are bothered by night sweats and hot flashes. via Monterey County Herald

I would like to thank Earl, who posted comments and the following question on my recent Tempranillo in the Americas post: ?Why was there such a long interval between introduction of the vine into Argentina and exportation of varietal labeled wine??

Here are some important factors to consider:

It?s important to recognize the fact that culturally, there is a stark contrast between the way in which wine has been regarded in Argentina versus our very international, varietal-minded, label-aware atmosphere where getting to know the world?s wines is something many people have expressed interest in doing. Fine wine production for the gentry, in terms of seeing wine as a prestige cultural/material good simply wasn?t priority for Argentines until fairly recently. While it is true that many progressive vintners have been dabbling in exciting varieties in the past few decades (after the familiar 19^th century French varieties arrived), the very first vines in the 16th century were planted by monks and priests near their newly built monasteries and church compounds in order to provide wine for masses and other celebrations. In some of the official correspondence that Spanish monks had to regularly exchange with royal authorities in the 1550?s to justify expenditures and building projects, the planting of vines was mentioned briefly and only in passing?the degree of pomp we would show in describing how we installed a light bulb today. Certainly, my modern concerns would be: Which varieties were planted? Surely this mattered to the priests, right? Not really, since in the letters they mention the generic Latin term for all wine-producing grape varieties, ?vitis vinifera.?

Records of colonial correspondence available at the Archivo General de Indias (Seville) indicate that a certain priest named Juan Cedrón (late 1550?s) first wrote of planting various types of Spanish vitis vitifera needed to carry on with life in the Argentine Northwest. The correspondence indicates that Cedrón was in charge of settling to the south of Santiago del Estero, Spanish settlers? first outpost after leaving their stronghold at Cuzco. As settlers made their way in a southwesterly direction, they encountered the dry, elevated Andean foothills of today?s provinces, the first of which is interestingly named La Rioja, then San Juan, and then Mendoza.

In terms of answering the above question about which varieties were planted, there are some interesting parallels we can draw between Northern and Southern hemisphere Spanish colonization patterns and viticultural practices. Since Valdepeñas from La Mancha was considered to be one of the finest expressions of Tempranillo by 16^th century Spaniards, this is precisely the name used in correspondence to introduce the variety into Nuevo León (México) and the area that encompasses California and parts of the American southwest. In the 16^th century, Spaniards didn?t refer to prestige wines by variety but as Italians did at the time, according to their region or commune of origin. On a whole and as is evidenced in classics such as Don Quixote (1605), Spaniards enjoyed drinking ?Valdepeñas? and not ?a really nice Tempranillo,? as we would say in the U.S. today.

If we take these considerations into account, it is a very well-sustained assumption that Tempranillo made its way across the Americas alongside Spanish settlers given that it was the red variety of choice. Other varieties planted for other styles of wines (acidic and sweet whites, etc.) in colonial times were Criolla Chica (also known as Criolla Sanjuanina) , Pedro Ximénez, Cereza, Muscat, Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano) and ?mónica? as it was known in Sardinia, Sicily and Spain (the famous ?Mission? grape introduced by Spanish Jesuits in 16^th century California).

Tempranillo (then referred to as ?Valdepeñas?), alongside the abovementioned varieties was cultivated at the Andean foothills for home consumption since the 16^th century. Much trial and error ensued, and areas with relatively higher elevation and dry weather (La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza) and select areas in Mexico (including present-day California) became prime for producing these wines for settlers? purposes.

Here are a couple of additional ideas to support the hypothesis that Tempranillo was one of the original vines planted in the Americas. Ethnographically speaking, a great deal of Spanish settlers in the early conquest of the Americas included an overwhelmingly large number of natives of the following Spanish regions where Tempranillo was the most important red variety?the provinces encompassing Castille and La Mancha such as Avila, Ciudad Real, Albacete, Badajoz, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Toledo, Salamanca and Madrid. It?s also important to keep in mind that in terms of actual planting area, Tempranillo vines are of relatively low incidence on a worldwide scale, with Argentina being second only after Spain, of course.

Earl, I?m afraid that your question still hasn?t been fully answered: Why is it that Tempranillo has been around in Argentina since the 16^th century yet the world hasn?t seen any exports of ?fine wine? versions until the early 1990?s?

Wine globalization and the consumer trends that underlie it have shown the potential to create some sink-or-swim imperatives for wine producers to expand production of different varieties and innovate in the vineyard. In fact, given many recent trends, it is likely that this projected consumer has developed tastes and accumulated enough disposable income to not want to consume the kinds of table wines that Argentines don?t mind. How does the Argentine producer see this consumer, who needs an ?international? style of their table wines? Well, the customer is someone who most likely lives abroad, and because he does not likely come from a culture were wine is a major part of his cultural identity, he is perhaps well educated and would like to learn more about wines and adopt other interests that can be considered, pardon the term, a bit bourgeois. While I don?t entirely see it the way Argentines see it because I grew up between both cultures and thus, can see each point of view, this is more or less the situation.

To answer your question, let?s think of timing and marketing. Who do many Argentine and Chilean producers wish to please? Why do the ?Wines of Argentina Awards? even exist? Spanish wines in the U.S. market at least, have really become fashionable in the past four or five years. Americans have been very receptive to various styles of Tempranillo-based Spanish reds and South American producers have realized that for the first time, the North American market is genuinely thirsty for different expressions of Tempranillo (this relic left by Spanish settlers, as far as Argentines are concerned).

What do I make of this all? The ambiguity created by the correspondence of priests such as Juan Cedrón in the 1550?s regarding vitis vinifera has unfortunately opened the gates to opportunists. One such example of opportunism can easily be seen by an article I came across in a major Spanish daily?s wine section (El Mundo Vino). In the article titled ?Argentine Wine is Not Only Malbec,? by Harold Heckle, Juan Carlos Rodriguez Villa of the venerable Finca Flichman in Barrancas (Mendoza), claims that Tempranillo vines are a relatively new phenomenon in Argentina and that it was precisely his grandfather who visited Spain and subsequently introduced the variety to the Argentine wine industry in 1940. Although the Familia Zuccardi website does not make claims this sensational, they still care very much that today?s North American grape-variety-hopping, cosmopolitan Gen. Y-wine consumer regard them as pioneers in the Argentine industry when it comes to traditionally European varieties that exclude the Bordeaux and northern Italian varieties that pan-European immigration brought to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

And so, I walk down the aisles of many American retailers and see bottles of Argentine Tempranillo from producers I?ve never heard of, from the conventional Mendoza winery all the way through La Rioja, San Juan and down into Neuquén and even a general Patagonia appellation. The same question comes the mind for a native Argentine like myself?under which rock have all of these wines/producers been and why are they suddenly available now on shelves dominated by oaked Catena Chardonnays and endless rows of Malbec? Makes one think?