For centuries the European courts were fascinated with the top quality wines from the Fruška gora wine route, served even on the legendary “Titanic”.
Since the time of Romans grapes from the mt. Fruška gora wine route have been transformed into the most beautiful wines.
Around 1,700 years have passed since the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus planted the first grapevine on the slopes of this mountain, in the village of Neštin. According to some historic scripts he was overthrown by his soldiers since at the time of peace he made them clear the forests and plant vineyards.
Fertile Pannonian land, centuries of experience in making wine and secret recipes have turned people of the Srem region into the most skillful winegrowers and winemakers, and the town of Sremski Karlovci into something like a “wine capital”.
Today different sorts of this ambrosia can be sampled in over 60 family wine cellars on the Fruška gora wine route.
Bermet and Ausburch, the authentic wines of Srem are pride and joy of winemaking in this region. Sweet, very strong and aromatic, these wines filled the regal cups in Vienna, London and Budapest, famous travelers wrote about them, and they inspired numerous poets…
The recipe for making Bermet is a well kept secret passed down from generation to generation. This desert wine with herbs made local winemakers famous at European courts, and bottles of Bermet were even found in the wreck of the Titanic. It is assumed that it was to be included in the Titanic’s wine list.
And the recipe for Ausbruch, a desert wine made of dried grapes, was passed down to local top winemakers from the court of Vienna at the time when the town of Sremski Karlovci was under the Austro-Hungarian reign.
The best known local white wine is the Italian Riesling, dry and semi-dry wine, that has partially sweet taste with a certain dose of bitterness and a harmonic smell.
Beside Italian Riesling, other sorts of white wine kept in Srem’s cellars are Traminac with a specific aroma, Župljanka with slight sharper but yet refreshing taste, as well as quality grape sorts like Sauvignon and Neoplanta, used for fantastic desert wines of the same name. Sila and Slankamenka, wines with slight taste and smell, are also produced in Srem’s wineries.
One cannot leave neither Srem region nor the Fruška gora wine route without tasting red wines made of the sweetest dark purple grapes with some fruits, herbs and spices added. The most famous red wine produced by Srem’s winemakers is Cabernet Sauvignon, also called the “king of red wines”. Unlike its rich fruity taste, Cabernet Franc also has an intensive fruity taste but with a slighter percent of acidity. On the other hand, a fine taste of grapes can be found in Merlot that has no bitter or sour taste, and therefore is very potable wine.
By combining Skadarka and Cabernet Sauvignon wine sorts, winemakers got Probus, a specific sort of the Fruška gora wine route. It was named after the Roman Emperor who, besides the favorable climatic and geographic conditions of the region, determined the future profession of people in the Srem region. Probus is the wine of intensive color and harmonic taste.
Admirers of this ambrosia will surely visit the Fruška gora wine route and will spend most of their time in Sremski Karlovci with its 36 wine cellars, among which the most famous are Kiš, Živanović, Dulkin, Merc, Došen, Aleks, Kosović…
Besides “the wine capital”, wine admirers on the Fruška gora wine route will surely visit the “Banonija” and “Urošević” cellars in the town of Banaštor and the “Kovačević” cellar in Irig.
The wines of Sremski Karlovci and the Fruška gora wine route according to…
In the 15th century the librarian of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus wrote that it would be very difficult to find such wines similar to the wines from Sremski Karlovci.
In 1584 a companion of prince Liechtenstein wrote that there was no better white wine and that Hungarian wines couldn’t possibly measure wines from Sremski Karlovci.
The German travel writer Vilhelm Taube said that, besides the Italian wines, these wines were second to none.
On one occasion, a Serbian poet Jovan Jovanović Zmaj thanked his friend for bringing him this wine: “I thank you for paving the way to the cellars and lagums in Sremski Karlovci!
