TIRANA, March 3, 2023 – When it comes to good wine, it’s all about the basic ingredient.
“We’ve focused on growing the right grapes,” says Bardhi Belba, who learned about wine while living in Italy for many years before returning to his native Albania to start his own family winery in the Kavaja region.
This week, Belba Winery was one of 20 Albanian winemakers to be showcased at Europe’s largest wine fair, VinItaly in Verona.
Albania’s offering included several wines made with unique indigenous grape varieties that have yielded international awards for wineries like Belba and others across Albania.
Part of a larger effort to show a united front in the wider region, this year’s stand was an Open Balkan one, featuring wines from Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. “Wine vision by Open Balkan” was in fact the fair’s guest of honor stand.
The Balkan wines were presenting themselves to hundreds of other European winemakers and thousands of wine lovers and experts at the fair.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the leaders of Serbia and North Macedonia were on hand during the opening of the stand.
In the remarks delivered together with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski, Mr. Rama emphasized that when it comes to the EU integration process, “we are very keen to fulfill the tasks.”
And producing good and unique wines is clearly a task anyone can say ‘cheers’ to.
Bardhi Belba of Belba Winery at the fair with Albanian Agriculture Minister Frida Krifca.
