• The region

Our vineyards and winery are located near the city of Strumica, southeast Macedonia in the Strumichko-Radovishki wine region. That is famous valley of the Strumica and strumeshnica rivers. The valley has Mediterranean climate.

With the altitude of 380m surrounded by high mountains vineyards have a constant light wind as a guest. The average temperature of the air in the period of vegetation is 20.2 celosias centigrade. We have 210 sunny days in the year. With so many sunny days, little rains, low relative humidity of the air – healthy grapes are a main characteristic of the region.

• The vineyards

Dalvina winery owns 370ha of grape fields. The soil is mostly sandy with an excellent exposition of the terrain which is gently laid over the smooth hills. Part of the grape varieties is original sorts typical for the region like Vranec, Zupljanka, and R’kaciteli which are some 30 years old. The other part are newly planted varieties on a wider area of the vineyards such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Carmenere Cabernet Franc.

In synergy with the fertile soil and moderate Mediterranean climate the fruits develop with a rich palette of aromas and tastes making juicy, fruity and also complex wines that makes them so recognizable at the world market.

• The winery

It is a new winery with capacity of 50 000hl. The latest gentle technology has been installed from reception of the grapes until fermentation. We are using traditional delestage wine making process for red wines. Automatically controlled cap plunging is enhancing color and aromas extraction. Our aim is to capture the unique properties of the grapes, the soil and micro-climates of the area.

• The wine making

The process of winemaking is like a great celebration in the Hamzali valley. People from the surrounding villages come to join us in picking up the grapes taking good care to collect by hand all ripe and healthy fruits in small baskets which are then put in a truck. The truck brings the baskets to the receiving hopper which is in the near of the vineyards, where the workers take the grapes out.

Then each fruit is put on a track where it is carefully selected and cleared from all leafs and stems by specially trained personal. After passing the distemper and the decrusher beautiful, fresh, good colored and round little grapes are lead to the fermenters. There the process continues in a very well controlled manner which leads to the highest qualities of the wine.

• The wines

The legends talk about the origins of the God of the wines – Dionis, and they say he had his best wine cellars in the Strumica region. The same God today we celebrate as St. Trifun on 14^th of February.

During the Archaeological researches in this area we found good traces of the great knowledge of wine making in the ancient times, in the kingdom of Phillip ll and Alexander The Great. In combination with the newest technology, the traditional old knowledge can be noticed in the taste of the established character of our wines. All the wines, white as much as the red ones are rich in flavors, powerful, even exotically tropical, clear, vivid fruity, have great intensity, spicy, buttery, with individual character, with touch of sweetness and can be drunk young or aged with a noticeable developed complexity.

Remarkable dry wines, each with very special and distinguishing character capable of developing sensation or at least expectation of sweetness where there isn’t any. These memorable wines have vivid, well defined fruit tastes.

Our Zupljanka variety in the line named Astraion, with its aroma of banana and tropical citrus fruits is very unique, one and only. Exotically and astonishing are our Chardonnay with pear and tropical fruit notes and accents of lemon, lime and orange in our Sauvignon Blanc. Very balanced, drinkable wines in which group also fall our crispy Rheine Riesling with its refreshing green apple notes and surprisingly attractive, elegant and spicy R’kaciteli.

The fruity fresh wines that can be drunk young or can be aged and within time become enriched in all ways. Here are some wines, currently victims of fashion in the world at large and are none the less the world’s few truly great wines. Its flavors of peaches, apricots, grapes in Muscat, honey and apples, blackcurrants and minerals, a hint of spice and mouthwatering of lime are just astonishing. Delicious at youth and yet capable of developing over a long period into a much more complex wine with a very high qualities is Vranec, purple-black dry wine with aroma of all possible forest’s black fruits like blackberries and blackcurrant, wild strawberry and cranberries even plums or jam made of plums. Very attractive drinkable soon after the vintage and with a special mark of the area is Cabernet Sauvignon with its blackcurrant and green pepper flavor with a full body, complex and concentrated wine of a great depth and tannic structure to last 20 years.

For the ones who do not prefer fruity flavors of the wine we prepared some quantities of specially selected red wines in an oak barrel. The barrels have a capacity of 220 liters and are made from Macedonian medium toasted oak.

With the right amount of flavorsome, new oak and in the ideal size of the barrel, the wine becomes complex in terms of both subtle flavors and rich texture. And all various aromas of vanilla, toast, spice, smoke and coconut-could be rather seductive, more with red wines but we had excellent results with white wines, too. In barrique we have from reds from Vranec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from our whites we have Zupljanka, R’Kaciteli and Chardonnay barrique.

• Our goals

Our goals are to craft the finest wines possible. We believe in minimal intervention to allow for the most natural expression of the fruit, and we believe in paying meticulous attention to detail throughout the entire wine making process – from the vineyard to the winery. We work hard to produce wines of depth, character and sophistication, and our house style focuses on intensity, individuality, regional distinction and elegance of expression.