WTN: Really tasty red from Serbia

Bongiraud Estelle & Cyrille Istina Cuvée des Gitans 2016 - A blend of Prokupac, Zacinjak, Vranac and Cab Sauvignon; 13,5% abv; c.28€
This is the first wine I've tasted from Serbia and it's a very good one. It's kind of "natural" but with a tiny bit of added sulphur but it doesn't taste stereotypically "natural" at all. Dark fruit aromas, quite spicy but it doesn't smell like the oak is new, with air some sweeter fruit aromas like strawberry show up. Quite a full bodied palate but it has wonderfully juicy acidity so it's refreshing and moreish. Really quite amazingly drinkable for what is a pretty big wine for one like me who likes vin de soif Beaujolais so much! Buy again? It's a bit on the expensive side but I'm still tempted to get one or two more.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks for the report, Saina. I believe that's the first Serbian TN I've seen anywhere! Given that Slovenia and Croatia both make more-than-decent wines, though, I'm in no doubt that it's doable.

It's enterprising for Alko to stock a wine from Serbia, which is little known (probably wrongly) as a producer. Are there lots of other nice surprises like that at Alko nowadays? It's about time I visit Helsinki again, if they let me in coming from COVID-19 infested France.

I enjoyed a very tasty Strekov FRED #5 from Slovakia on Tuesday night..with Peking Duck.

[Jenise]

Actually the best Serbian wines cost a lot more than USD 30, I think it's much misunderstood what is available. It's expensive stuff these days, some of it anyway. But it definitely worth each penny.

I'm in the U.S.; we don't see many here. Saina, however, is in Finland where wine variety is less and prices are much more expensive.