Dalia 'Gaamez' Gamay 2023
About the winemaker:
The young winemaker Kristina Lukić at Vinarija Dalia, started learning how to make wine in Italy. After completing her studies in viticulture and oenology at the University of Udine, during which she completed her first two harvests in Sardinia and in Beaujolais, she started her journey around the world to enrich her cultural and professional knowledge. From the southern to the northern hemisphere, she passed through different countries, various sizes of wineries and ways of production and gradually built her career, including countries such as Chile (Valle del Maipo), Spain (La Mancha), California (Russian River Valley), New Zealand (Awatere Valley), and France (Champagne). Her most impactful experience was in Champagne working with Dominique Moreau at Marie Courtin, who she considers a true mentor and someone who changed the way she thought about making wine.
Kristina’s dream was to always go back to her homeland, and apply and share her experiences and knowledge with the local people.
The realization of this idea was possible in 2021 when a serendipitous acquaintance, led her to Emmanuel Koenig and Etienne de Montille, owner of the prestigious Burgundy estate, Domaine de Montille, who saw great potential in Kristina and the wines of Serbia and was compelled to support her in her journey.
With global experience and alliances in Burgundy, together they settled on a winery in the village of Smedovac.
As she is developing her winery, currently the grapes are being sourced from local producers, who are now (thanks to Kristina) bringing back organic viticulture and continuing to grow awareness for this growing area in Serbia. Currently, the vineyards are mostly international varieties such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Gamay, Merlot with some locals such us Vranac, Bagrina and Red Tamjanika, both varieties that give very specific and recognizable wines.
Kristina’s principles of the production are those of natural method wines, the philosophy is to follow vinifications with low intervention, coming from healthy grapes grown respectfully, in order to reveal the local terroir with expressive wines full of life.
Vinarija Dalia now rents 1.8 ha of vineyard and owns around 7 hectares of land, with the ultimate goal of reaching 10 ha total. Kristina is planting the first estate hectares in spring 2024, and will continue gradually planting new ones. Continuing to focus on local varieties of the regions, there will be whites such as Bagrina and Smederevka as well as as reds such as Prokupac, Začinak and Red Tamjanika.
On an influential level, Kristina’s presence and influence is having a much wider impact on the local community than Emmanuel, Etienne and Kristina could have imagined, especially for the younger generations that are taking over their family production, searching for a new way of their own. In particular, the emergence of Dalia has empowered female producers in the region to take the reins and follow in the footsteps of the region and now the presence of women in these villages is very strong, from business management to work in the vineyard.