Tikves Winery: indulge yourself in excellent Macedonian wine

Posted 21/01/2020

In Destinations, Europe, Food, Vineyards

Tikves Winery is the biggest winery not only in North Macedonia, but also in the region of South East Europe. The winery is situated in the Tikves region which stretches on a similar longitude as Tuscany, Bordeaux and the Napa Valley. What does that mean? It means the wine is excellent because of the climate, rich soil and mostly sunny weather! Tikves Winery offers 6 wine lines which includes a type of wine for every budget and taste. The wine is produced with the newest technologies and quite cool, they work with a very special winemaker consultant! Learn more about Tikves Winery and my wine & dine experience here….

Tikves winery – the art of wine

I descended 8 meters below the ground passing grand oak barrels on my way to finally arrive at the fine dining restaurant of Tikves Winery. I was already impressed by this stage but this was nothing compared to what I was about to experience. If you are a wine & food lover -> keep reading…

A 4-course lunch paired with wine from the special selection was awaiting me at Tikves Winery. This high-quality line used only the best hand-picked grapes to make the wine. Well, some call it wine, I call it art. Tikves winery works with the famous French winemaker consultant, Phillipe Cambie to provide the best of the best outcome.

Tikves winery – let’s talk food & wine!

Now let’s talk food and wine. I started off light with a salad ….. paired with the Georgian grape Rkaciteli. This was a perfect wine for my dish, nice fresh and light.

Up next; shrimp with Asian noodles with a touch of pomegranate sprinkled on top. I loved everything about Bela Voda which is a Chardonnay/ Grenache Blanc. This wine has spent 6 months in French oak barrique that gives the wine notes of butter and vanilla. This is a round, full-bodied wine with lots of aromas.

Time for red! Vranec from 2016 aged in the bottle with 50 percent of oak. This grape is originally from Monte Negro and is very special as it only grows in Monte Negro, Serbia, Hercegovina and North Macedonia. This big, bold and robust red wine has flavours of cherries and blackberry. It was a perfect match with the beefsteak and seasonal vegetables.

Tikves winery – wine not?

Although I am not a dessert kind of person I must say the last wine was probably my favourite of all! It’s a blend of Vranec and Kratosija named Barovo (2016) which won the platinum medal in the Decanter competition in London. Very impressive! The wine aged for 18 months in French oak barrel which is why it is a very powerful dark red wine but perfectly balanced out. It has a full body and an acidity that seems to go on forever but smoothens out near the end. Above all, the smell and taste of blackberry and strawberry aromas made this wine just heaven to me! Oh yes, the chocolate mousse was also great!