Republic of Macedonia and it's wine industry

Macedonian wine commercial

Republic of Macedonia  is a sunny, mountainous country in the heart of the Balkans. Many say that Macedonia is the pearl of the Balkans owing to its beauties. The climate is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea and north-west mountains. Warm periods of time and sunny days characterize the favorable climate that creates good conditions for breeding the vine and producing the wine.

Intensive flavor and fragrance make Macedonian wine one of the best in the region. 

Macedonia has 35 thousand hectares of land under the vineyards.  In these vineyards all kinds of wines are produced: dry and sweet, sparking and non-sparking wine, red, white and rose wine. 

Internationally famous types of wine, as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Vranec, are used for producing all the other sorts of wines by adding them a local fruit aroma that gives the wine a special flavor.

Wine production in Macedonia takes place in the 80 officially registered wineries with a total capacity of 2,222,647 hl. which is two times the total production of wine (50% utilization of total capacity). The total capacity nalevanje in bottles is around 650,000 hl per year is insufficient to cover the entire production of wine in the country. Although the lack of capacity, capacity nalevanje of wine bottles remain unused for most of the wine is marketed as a liquid.

The geographical representation of the wineries is identical to the representation of the vineyards, where most companies are located in the central region of the valley of Vardar, in particular units, and Tikvesh- Gevgelija-Valandovo wine region.

Most of the wineries (90%) with capacity up to between 50.000 hl, 5 with a capacity between 51.000 and 150.000 hl and 3 with a capacity of 151.000 to 500.000 hl. The capacity of the wine cellars for the production of red wine (60%) is higher than for white wine (40%) due to the fact that varieties of white wine (which predominate) more commonly used for the production of brandy.

In recent years, the number of new wineries (mostly manufacturing plants with small and medium size) has increased almost three times compared with times in 2003 (only 28 registered companies), an interesting trend given that the total vineyard records repeatedly decreasing. These wineries tend towards concentration of production of wine in bottles filled and high-quality wines, through strict control of the selection of varieties, vineyard management and harvesting, transportation and delivery practices. Furthermore, they invest in sophisticated equipment for finishing and processing, bottling and marketing technologies and competitive domestic and foreign markets.