Living There
Silly way to learn the country. But Serbia is the largest world producer of fruit brandy and plum brandy (popular Slivovitz) is the most appreciated among them. Slivovitz (Sljivovica, Slivovica, Slivovice) means “brandy distilled of plum” and is derived from Slavic word “Šljiva” (plum). Fruit brandy distilled from fruit cherished on the slopes of Sumadija is probably the most aromatic in the world. The strongest competitors to Serbia in fruit production are Poland, Chile, USA, China, but it seems Serbian fruit is very appreciated.
Located in Eastern Europe, Balkan Peninsula, few hundreds kilometers from Adriatic Sea and Mediterranean, it lies on the 45th Parallel (same as New York or China). Serbia is continental country and its central part is called Sumadija (also derived from Slavic word Šuma, woods, forest).
Belgrade is more than capital. Situated on the confluence of the Sava into Danube, it lies on former Roman Limes, border between Balkans and Central Europe, East and West, Orient and Europe. There is one more frontier that Belgrade lies on: frontier between plum brandy distillation area and grape brandy distillation area.
Few people know that plum is mostly grown in central and southern parts of the country, Sumadija especially. Due to mild slopes hills, excellent layout of rainy and dry periods, over 200 sunny days per year, Sumadija has something that suits the plum.
Northern Serbian province Vojvodina was populated by Romans few centuries BC. Romans brought the first grapevine. Serbs even called one the local varieties of grape after the Roman emperor Probus. Grapes are grown on Fruska Gora Mountain, Vrsac Hill and on sandy terrains near Subotica, the city at the Hungarian border. A lot of grapes, a lot of grape brandy. They call it lozovača (loza is Slavic word for vine).
There are a lot of tourist wine routes offering a variety of local wines like prokupac, tamjanika, bermet, ausbruh, grasevina (Italian Riesling), muskat krokan and other exYugoslavia’s countries (vranac, plavac, dingac, procek (Italian prosecco), etc. In flooding of local wines from the whole world, no miracle that Serbia is developing its own tourist offer based on local wines. But Serbs are particular in another way: they have online shop www.tastebrandy.com selling their brandy online. A Balkan traveler must notice that this is unique phenomenon in this part of the world.
Their brandy is not just a drink. It is synonym for hospitality, because they offer guests with their homemade “martyr”; wealth, because household is measured after the quality of its homemade slivovitz; and national pride, because they believe the best plum brandy is distilled in Serbia. And every host in Serbia is convinced that his slivo is the best one in the country. Funny sports.
When you learn them, you learn they are always ready to talk about their brandy. They are ready to offer you (be careful! it’s not innocent at all), but you have to praise the host’s ability to make the best brandy in the world. And always add that “you haven’t tasted brandy of such excellence so far”. This will satisfy them.
And when you desire to feel the spirit of this small and proud country, order online…
