McLauchlan's North Macedonian Musings: Fulbright Association - Wines of Macedonia

What a pleasure it was to organize a Macedonian Wine Tasting Event for the Fulbright Association!

The purpose of the event was for guests to learn more about Macedonian culture and wine - and to have the opportunity to sample some of these world class vintages.

After sharing a few details about my extraordinary time as a Fulbrighter in North Macedonia - and why I wanted to organize this Macedonian Wine Tasting event - it was my honor to welcome His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of North Macedonia to the U.S. ZORAN POPOV.

Ambassador Popov joined us from Washington, DC, and he spoke about Macedonian wine exports and the work that is being done to promote Macedonian wines in the U.S. markets. (Currently only 3% of the exports go to the U.S.)

The US Embassy in North Macedonia Public Affairs Section was represented by the esteemed GAZMEND ILAZI. We really have Gazmend to thank for helping to pull this event together - helping to connect us with former Fulbright Scholar to the US, Professor Marina Nacka from UKIM, the Wines of Macedonia organization, and the Macedonian Association of Sommeliers.

This was a multi-media presentation, which included a video about Macedonian wines. (I need to see if I can get a YouTube link to share the video here)

ELENA MLADENOVSKA-JELENKOVIC Executive Director of Wines of Macedonia gave a wonderful presentation that covered the history of Macedonia, agriculture, and wine production. Elena also talked about the varieties of grapes that are native to the Balkans - including my favorite, vranec.

And then ZVONKO HERCEG, the President of the MASOM - Macedonian Association of Sommeliers walked us through 6 different Macedonian wines. It was a treat to learn so much about each of the wines, the vineyards - and all that Zvonko had to share about the climate in the Balkan region and what makes the wines so special.

We were thrilled to have a wine distributor personally deliver a case of Macedonian wines - and to learn more about how we can access wines here in Florida. Thank you Angelo Dimovski for the special delivery! And for your assistance pouring the wine for our guests. We appreciated your expertise as well.

One of the pictures below includes contacts of distributors in the U.S.

And special thanks to my friend Ann Pollard, who helped us with the tech as we had our international speakers presenting on screens in 3 locations in our little beach bungalow.