Wine road Sremski Karlovci
Viticulture in Srem is one of the oldest in Europe. Vine is offshoot of precious land in the hills above Fruska Gora for more than 1700 years, when the first vine was planted by the Roman Emperor Probus of the ancient Sirmium. With the arrival of Turks, wine in Srem was almost destroyed. It was gradually restored, and reached its full bloom during the Austro-Hungary rule. Vine was the pivot of life for many generations of Karlovac, and Karlovac’s wine sparkled throughout Europe, always noble and distinguished among the best. During several centuries Karlovci were considered for the Serbian capital of wine. Wines were exported exported from Fruska Gora since XV century in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Wine History
Writer and member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences Zechariah Orfelin published ‘Experienced wine maker’ in 1783 in Vienna, and Procopius Bolic, Archimandrite of the monastery Rakovac on Fruska Gora, published the first vineyard manual titled ‘Soveršen vinodelac’ in Budim in 1816. These are the oldest works in our language in Vojvodina on Viticulture and Enology.
Authentic wine of this region is bermet, which traders exported to the United States 150 years ago. According to some data, Bermet is located on the wine map of ‘Titanic’. This is a special wine, liqueur, which resembles the italian vermouth, but is produced in another way, by mixing more than 20 different herbs and spices.
Viticulture and Enology today
In this area of land vineyards are on sloping terrain, plateaus and slopes of Fruska Gora, and benefit from the River Danube.
On Fruska Gora of indigenous varieties grown there are cormorant, the old portugizer, from which in the past wines ausbruh and bermet were made, and cross varieties of domestic parishioner (prokupac and red burgundy), neoplanta (Smederevo traminac and red), power (kevedinka and chardonnay), lisa (gray burgundy and kunleanj), and peter (red burgundy and kubarat).Recommended varieties of grape vines in this area are Italian and rhine riesling, traminac, sauvignon, neoplanta, sirmium and parishioner. And most famous wines carry the same names.
Fruska Gora is area of italian riesling, for some people it is its original homeland. More than half of the vineyards of this beautiful mountain have that variety. The most famous wines of this region are Fruska Gora Riesling, Italian Riesling, Rhine Riesling, Parishioner, Traminac, Buvije, Frankovka, Plemenka, Silvanac green, Portugizec, and specific flavored Bermet.
Wine road
Fruska Gora is famous for its wines, which one can certainly try in one of more than 60 private cellars. Bermet and ausbruh are sweet, very strong and aromatic wines. Neoplanta, authentic aromatized wine of this region, can be found in the basement of Cerevic, and in the nearby villages Nestin, Banostor, Erdevik and Irig where more interesting wine wineries await.
What to eat?
Italian white wines such as Riesling, Parishioner, pink or young game are the best for Vojvodina ham, peppers, and Srem cheese, and with a pie with meat goes Cormorant, game or red Burgundy. With the fish stew Ruzica or red wines.
What to see?
Sremski Karlovci is a rare pearl of Serbian culture and spirituality. This city belongs to the Hall of Fame Museum European cities. In the baroque heart of the town you can see many historical buildings that attract with their first appearance, and then with their significance.
Petrovaradin Fortress (Gibraltar on the Danube), a unique object from the time of Maria Theresa.
Every year in late September in Karlovci a Grape ball is held, event dedicated to picking grapes and wine.