Top 100 red wines of Montenegro

Discovering the wine region of Montenegro

Montenegro is a small country located in the western Balkan Peninsula, with a coastline on the Adriatic Sea. Formerly Part of communist and then federal Yugoslavia, it was part of a union with Serbia from 2003 to 2006. The wine industry is best known for its intense, deeply coloured red wine, produced from the Vranac Grape. There are also a number of grape brandy distilleries.

Well-made Vranac is at its best after several years in the bottle, and with judicious use of oak, Montenegrin Vranac can rival the Powerful wines of southern France. It can also exhibit a fresh acid Balance rarely seen across the water in Puglia - a trait conferred by the cooler altitudes at which vines can be grown in Montenegro. Other red varieties grown here include red Bordeaux grapes, Syrah, Sangiovese and Kratosija. The latter is a synonym for Tribidrag, of which Crljenak Kasteljanski, Primitivo and Zinfandel are clonal variants.

Today, it plays only a minor role. Various international white grapes are grown (Chardonnay is sometimes called Sardone here), as well as the Balkan specialty, Smederevka. A typical southern European country, the Montenegrin landscape is relatively Dry, mountainous and definitely Mediterranean. The culture of viticulture and winemaking has been established here for a Long time.