Miša Cilić (38) is at the forefront of what could be described as the second wave of modern Serbian winemaking. Although his family has been involved in wine trade and production for eight generations, it was only with the establishment of vineyards and a winery within Cilić Estate that the conditions were created to translate this rich tradition into one of the most successful wine stories in Serbia today.
On this occasion—and fittingly at a time when Cilić Estate is marking five years since the official opening of the winery, ten years since the first harvest, and fifteen years since the beginning of vineyard planting—we sat down to talk about the current Serbian and regional wine scene.
Ten years ago, things were very different. Today, there are at least a hundred more market-oriented wineries than there were back then, with around twenty of them being particularly strong in terms of marketing. Consumer awareness has also changed significantly, and perceptions of Serbian wines have evolved greatly. Ten years ago, foreign wines accounted for between 70 and 80 percent of restaurant wine lists, whereas today Serbian wines are dominant. This is only natural, because if Serbia wants to be taken seriously as a wine-producing country, its wine lists must feature predominantly domestic wines. Of course, it is important to taste what others are doing and to exchange experiences—but today, we most certainly have something to offer as well.
The Serbian wine story is currently led by Aleksandrović, Radovanović, Zvonko Bogdan, Temet, and Kovačević. These are five wineries that, through their production volumes, media presence, and strong positioning in the hospitality sector, set the tone of the market. At the same time, these names create a sense of confidence among new consumers, which is very important. However, alongside them, there are another twenty or so highly modern wineries that even much more established wine-producing countries could envy.
In a way, Serbia slept through the 1990s, a period when technological revolutions in winemaking were taking place not only in the region but across the world. From the outset, we lagged behind our neighbors, but today we are in a good position to move forward—we have caught up. Still, we cannot remain where we are, producing a mass of pleasant and technically correct wines; we must also work on their complexity. Today, anyone in the world can produce a healthy and appealing wine.
The idea was to play with the potential and geographical characteristics of the Jagodina vineyard area, rather than to chase the market and follow trends. To obtain a wine with the characteristics of a specific micro-location, you need to have an estate. We first began by acquiring the land around the winery, purchasing 136 surrounding plots from as many as 200 different owners, which is a serious undertaking in Serbia. Then we focused on adapting the land to its purpose, analyzing the soil composition in order to determine the optimal potential position for each grape variety.
