Barovo Red

It sits with the big oaked reds, Ribera and the Douro, not with the lighter stuff. Eighteen months in new French oak will do that. Dark fruit first, prune, sour cherry and blackberry, then vanilla and chocolate, with pepper, anise and a little cinnamon. The alcohol is high but it sits inside the wine. The finish is long and juicy.

Pour it with lamb or prime rib. It suits roast dinners and long evenings. Give it a big glass and a little air.

This is our flagship red. Grown and picked together off three hectares of volcanic rock, then two days of cold maceration and three weeks on the skins. It has the structure to lay down.

Barovo is the highest fruit garden in the Balkans. Small parcels climb to 700 metres at the foot of the Kozuf mountains, where fog and morning dew slow the fruit and hold its freshness. Tikveš has made wine since 1885.