That Time I Got Drunk At a Serbian Winery

I was underwhelmed by our stay in Novi Sad, Serbia. But my efforts to make it more interesting may have been a little too fun.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Brent and I recently spent a month in Novi Sad, Serbia — about a hundred kilometers northwest of Belgrade. But I was a bit underwhelmed by the city.

In fact, more than once, I told Brent I was starting to “hate-watch” Novi Sad, since it’s not terribly attractive and doesn’t have a lot going on.

So, in an effort to liven up our stay, the two of us took a day-trip to the nearby village of Sremski Karlovci, which we’d been told was charming.

And it was.

Indeed, the village has at least fifteen boutique wineries within walking distance of the central square. We decided to visit one of them, Vinum Winery, for a wine-tasting.

Our lovely host, Andrijana, gave us a tour of the facility, showing us the wine cellar and explaining how their grapes are all grown in the surrounding fields, “in the light of two suns” — the sun in the sky and the sun’s light reflected off the nearby Danube River.

Then she took us to their cozy little tasting room to sample their nine different wine offerings.

Here I feel compelled to mention that it was just barely after noon, and I’d hardly eaten anything all morning.

In short, this may be the point where our stay in Serbia got a little too livened up.

But maybe it’s better to just show you what happened.

INT. TASTING ROOM - DAY

Andrijana pours while Brent and Michael sample the different wines.

ANDRIJANA: Now, for our fourth pour, let's try this Mustra made from the Muscat Blanc, a white wine grape of Greek origin.

BRENT [to Michael, sotto voce]: This is good stuff, isn’t it?

MICHAEL: What? Oh, yeah. I’m just a little light-headed.

BRENT: Yeah, she’s not really holding back with the samples, is she?

MICHAEL: I really should have eaten something before we came here.

ANDRIJANA: Now with this selection, you may taste notes of orange, ripe pear, and honeysuckle.

MICHAEL [to Brent, sotto voce]: What does that even mean? Notes are things you hear or write, not something you taste.

ANDRIJANA: Is everything okay?

BRENT: What? Oh, yes! Just fine. Keep going.

ANDRIJANA: Of course. Now for the next pour, this is our signature wine, a Riesling, that was recently chosen as the official selection for the Novi Sad’s European Capital of Culture designation…

BRENT: This is good. I think it’s my favorite so far.

[Michael tastes it, nods. Downs it all.]

MICHAEL: I agree. [to Andrijana] More, please.

ANDRIJANA: Well, we still have four more selections, and I already gave you—

MICHAEL: More, please!

[She pours, Michael drinks. Michael nods for more. She pours, and he drinks again.]

BRENT [to Michael, sotto voce]: Uh, maybe we should get a couple of bottles of the Riesling and just go…

MICHAEL [to Brent, not at all sotto voce]: No! We paid good money for this!

BRENT: It’s a free tasting. And will you please be quiet?