Red Wine

Besides his mace, horse, hat and cape, red wine is also a constant attribute of Kraljević Marko. Almost all the songs cite how Marko and his friend (and foes) are “well-primed with red wine”. How much wine there was in the region is best described in a line saying that Marko “drinks his wine from a wash-basin” or when he “drinks half of the wine, giving his Dapple the other half”. And Marko really ruled the region renown for its best quality wines.

LANGUAGE

The Serbian expression “rujno vino”, usually means the red wine, but there is more to it as  rujrujan in Serbian also denotes a yellowish-brown hue, associating with a symbol of youth, therefore rujno vino could also be the new wine. Furthermore, only in Serbia and Croatia the red wine is called “black wine”. The word wine is an ancient one, common to all the Indo-Europeans.

RELIGION AND TRADITION

In Christian tradition, St Tryphon is the patron of wine makers. Earlier, a Slavic deity of fire and heat, Ruđevit (Rugevit, Rujevit), protector of agriculture, similar to the Greek of fertility, plants, life and wine, Dionysius.

GEOGRAPHY

The climate and the soil of Serbia are good for growing vine. The well-known types are of Kosovo, the Negotin Krajina, from around Kruševac, Aleksandrovac, etc. good wine is produced in Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia.

HISTORY

Growing vineyards in the Serbian lands started in the 3rd century A.D., owing to the Roman emperor Probus who began growing the culture on Fruška Gora and on Golden Hill near Smederevo.