Budimir Winery
Vino Budimir wine estate is located in Župa region, in the central part of Serbia. It is one of Serbia’s most important pre-Phylloxera wine regions. Župa is also one of the world’s oldest viticultural regions. Historical evidence confirms that vine cultivation here started with the Ancient Greeks, continued throughout the various periods of Roman Empire, then the Middle Age, slowing down during the Ottoman era due to religious constraints, however surviving and strongly developing since the establishment of the first Serbian States in the modern era in XIX century. Our most precious vineyards are very old and were established in the Middle Ages, more precisely during the time of medieval Serbian ruler Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović (XIV century) who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire.
It is interesting that we have a documentary proof in our cellar, namely a Diploma issued by Serbian ruler King Milan Obrenović (XIX century), for wines produced in our cellars over 130 years ago. It pinpoints the golden tradition and passion of our forefathers in making wines in the past.
Traditional winemaking practices have been passed on for generations in our family. That spirit of preserving the old values is intrinsically related to the recent re-birth of our winery. We are the fourth generation of our family exclusively cultivating vines and producing wine for our subsistence.
Territory
The enormous potential of Župa’s predominantly clay and limestone soil and continental climate is recognized once again. The soil structure is very complex and varies from block to block. Clay soils are composed of variety of minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure and perfectly feeding our vines with all necessary ingredients.
When cultivating the vines we rely primarily on the tremendous experience of our grandfather Mr. Budimir Zdravković. He always felt that the region’s vineyards had enormous potential; however the quality of local practice was just below required high standards. We quickly understood that we first had to restore the soil and improve existing viticulture practices. We identified the vineyards and growers with the most potential and continued with the proper viticultural practices and canopy management of all our vineyards.
A true renaissance is taking place in our region and, of course, at our estate. With the unique terroir, vines planted on picturesque hills and incredible soil diversity and within an extraordinary favourable microclimate, we are blessed to make wines showing many subtle facets and true sense of the place. It is always done by honoring the hard work and experience of many generations of people involved with wine in the Župa region. We ultimately believe that our wines are pure and in total harmony with the beauty of our ancestral land, and the uniqueness of our estate.
Vineyards
Our old vineyards are situated above the Monastery Drenča on the slope called Gubovac. We are blessed by the top quality grapes from these vineyards year after year. The exposition of vineyards is south-facing while their altitude is about 600 meters and slopes have a gradient from 10 to 50 degrees. We have a plan to expand vigorously our vineyards with the most suitable varieties in the near future. We also have younger vineyard blocks planted some 4 years ago.