• 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 microclimates of the area.

• The winemaking

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 Archeological researches in this area we found good traces of the great knowledge of winemaking 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.

ZNAPS, the legend so far…

ZNAPS, was founded in 1996 by two Swedish entrepreneurs with rich accomplishments in the

restaurant, bar and nightclub industry.

Their vision was clear from the very beginning: to establish a brand around bartenders; to create a

range of products and flavours that would give bartenders access to the finest tools available in creating

new and innovative cocktails and drinks. With some yet unexplored ingredients, exciting flavours,

textures and visuals would emerge. Simply put, they developed the ideal toolbox for bartenders.

ZNAPS has since spread in popularity across Europe and beyond. In London, the brand became

synonymous with all things Swedish – regularly referred to as “ZNAPS of Sweden”. ZNAPS quickly

became the tipple of choice at parties hosting celebrities such as Madonna, Björn Borg, Rolling Stones,

Ace of Base – everyone demanded ZNAPS.

That was the 1990’s in London, Paris, Rhodes, Reykjavik, Rio and Sao Paulo, to name but a few.

This is 2011, and ZNAPS is being re-launched with the same clear vision, the ideal toolbox for bartenders,

but with a twist and new theme: “The Surreal Deal”, a new trance like takes on design and flavours sure

to capture the imagination of bartenders across the globe.

What will it be?

ZNAPS – the Surreal Deal from Sweden.

In early wine history, the amphora was the vessel of choice for the storage and transportation of wine. Due to the perishable nature of wood material it is difficult to trace the usage of barrels in history.

The use of oak has been prevalent in winemaking for at least two millennia, first coming into widespread use during the time of the Roman Empire. In time, winemakers discovered that beyond just storage convenience, wine kept in oak barrels took on properties that improved it by making it softer and, in some cases, better-tasting.

Wine barrels, especially those made of oak, have long been used as containers in which wine is aged. Aging in oak typically imparts desirable vanilla, butter and spice flavors to wine. The size of the barrel plays a large role in determining the effects of oak on the wine by dictating the ratio of surface area to volume of wine with smaller containers having a larger impact. The most common barrels are the Bordeaux barriques style which holds 225 litters followed by the Burgundy style barrel which hold 228 litters. Some New World wine makers are now also using the larger hogshead 300-litre barrel. Larger barrels are also traditionally used in parts of Italy such as Barolo, as well as the south of France.

New barrels impart more flavors than do previously used barrels. Over time many of the oak properties get “leached” out of the barrel with layers of natural deposits left from the wine building up on the wood to where after 3 to 5 vintages there may be little or no oak flavors imparted on the wine. In addition, oxygen transport through the oak and into the wine, which is required for maturation, becomes severely limited after 3–5 years.

With centuries known for producing the best wine in the region, Macedonian has all the preconditions. 

Situated in the heart of the Balkans, the sunny and mountainous Macedonia has splendid grapes for creating delicious wine.

The proud Macedonians have been using the productive land and the outstanding climatic conditions for centuries to grow quality varieties of red and white grapes. The fresh and harmonic 

varieties of white grape and the fruitful aroma of red ones are the result of the different elevation where the vineyards are located. The ecologically clean environment gives the opportunity the Macedonia grape to be sprayed only four times per year.

The Mediterranean and continental climate, with sunny days and breezy nights are the precondition 

for intensive wine aroma produced after the long process of wine growing.

The concentrated sugar and the grape’s acid supply intensive aromas and rich colors of Macedonian wines.

The outstanding fruit scent is the characteristic that the experts notice first when describing Macedonian wines.

All kinds of wine are produced red, white and rose, dry and sweet, as well as sparkling and non-sparkling.

In Macedonia the international kinds of wine like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are produced but also and the indigenous types Vranec, Stanusina and Kratoshija of red and white Zupljanka, Zilavka and others.

Accessible, attractive, pleasurable and delicious, with taste that lingers in the mouth, are the characteristic that make our wines undoubtedly Macedonian.