Nestled on the northern slopes of Fruška Gora, Bikicki Winery has become a symbol of dedication and craftsmanship in the world of natural wines. With Moma Traminac 2023 earning accolades at Wine Vision by Open Balkan 2024, Đorđe Bikicki shares how his commitment to organic practices, minimal intervention, and a return to traditional winemaking methods creates wines that tell a story.
In this exclusive interview, Bikicki offers insights into his vineyard’s unique location, his production philosophy, and what visitors can expect when stepping into his one-of-a-kind winery.
Moma Traminac 2023, now a winner at Wine Vision by Open Balkan 2024, has brought recognition to Bikicki Winery. If this award-winning wine could tell the story of your journey, what would it reveal about your philosophy and vision?
Moma Traminac is the culmination of ten years of production, showcasing the extent to which our radical approach to both grape cultivation and winemaking can achieve in terms of expression and elegance. Like all our other wines, it is crafted according to the same principles – from organic grapes and with minimal intervention during processing. For this wine, we harvest Traminac grapes slightly earlier than full ripeness to ensure better dynamics and acidity based solely on subjective taste.
After gentle crushing, the grape juice is left for a day with the skins for better extraction and then transferred to ceramic tanks for gentle, spontaneous fermentation without any additives. The wine matures for a year on fine lees before being bottled, unfiltered and unfined in ceramic bottles.
Fruška Gora is often called a gem for winemaking. How do its landscapes, climate, and history influence the personality of your wines?
Our vineyards are located in Banoštor, on the northern slopes of Fruška Gora, overlooking the Danube and situated right on the edge of the National Park. This is undoubtedly one of the best locations in the region for producing lowyield, high-quality grapes.
The Danube provides numerous benefits, including warmth in winter, reducing the risk of frost, and a gentle breeze in summer, which supports organic cultivation with minimal treatments. The predominantly clay-rich soil is highly fertile, well-drained, and easy to work with. Our grapes consistently have high sugar levels, bursting with aromas and natural sweetness. This greatly facilitates the production of premium wine during processing.
Your tasting room is ready to welcome wine enthusiasts. If you could design the perfect visit to Bikicki Winery, what emotions and memories would you want guests to take away?
Our production facility in Veliki Radinci tells a different story. It’s a garage-style winery where the wines are absolutely at the forefront. For fermentation and ageing, we use only natural materials, such as oak barrels, ceramic tanks, and concrete vats, allowing the wines to ferment and evolve slowly. We return to traditional methods without the use of modern machinery and enological equipment, respecting natural processes and applying the knowledge we have about them. We want our guests to feel our passion through an unpretentious story, honest communication, and education. We hope the quality of the wines they taste reflects the authenticity of our approach. Our production isn’t just a story to make things seem more interesting or different – it genuinely delivers better results due to this method.
