Monastery Winery — Attraction in Municipality of Ohrid

We visited Monastery Winery, and unfortunately, it was not what we had expected beforehand.

Booking a tour of the winery was well organized. It was quick and easy, and the staff reached out to confirm the pick-up location. We had chosen the winery tour with tasting + taxi service. The driver arrived at the agreed time, so far, so good!

It’s a short ride from the old town to the winery, about half an hour. During the ride, however, the driver lit a cigarette. I understand that smoking is common in Macedonia, but at the very least, ask the guests in the car if it’s okay. This was the first downside even before our visit to the winery had actually begun.

Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed. The gentleman who assisted us spoke good English. We were soon seated at a table and offered our first brandy. A few minutes later, we were picked up for the winery tour.

Unfortunately, the tour was quite disappointing. You enter a room with some stainless steel wine tanks, where the guide briefly explains how they make wine. After about five minutes, you move on to another room, where a long-winded explanation is given about how Rakija is made. I wouldn’t call this a proper tour of a winery, and it’s certainly not worth booking the tour for. A winery doesn’t necessarily need to have its own vineyards and this one definitely doesn’t. The grapes used by Monastery Winery don’t come from this region. So, you won’t see a single grape.

After the short tour, it’s time for the tasting. A 2.5-hour wine tasting for just five wines feels very drawn out. There’s a long gap between each wine. After your first glass, the snack platter is already empty. On this particular afternoon, there was also no introduction or explanation given with the wines. In my opinion, it didn’t feel like a proper tasting at all.

I won’t go into too much detail about the wines themselves in this review. In general, the wines had a high alcohol content and all shared a distinct rakija-like touch. They weren’t particularly distinctive. This review is mainly about the overall experience, which was very underwhelming.

I wouldn’t recommend a day trip to Monastery Winery. A nice wine tasting in the center of Ohrid will bring you more joy and save you quite a bit of money. The winery is expensive and doesn’t meet the expectations one might have of a...

I can’t compare the Monastery Winery with any other one which I’ve visited until now in many different countries. It was by far the best experience. You reach the winery through a small/old village with a beautiful river running across it in a wonderful valley. The nature around the winery is pure beauty and old style stone building itself as well. Philip, the representative, was very welcoming and helpful with explaining everything we asked about the place and the story. And the other great man , Stefan, the wine maker and the co-owner explained all the knowledge he gathered about wine and rakija making, traditional and modern styles, as well as his own experience with a big passion. Big thanks to him for sharing this priceless knowledge with us as a wine enthusiast. We’ve tasted I think most of their wines and rakijas almost all of which have a unique and very good taste from different varieties of grapes and blends as well. As a relatively small and boutique winery this is a really big achievement, having a good range of good varieties. Actually this is just an introduction to the place, wines and the hospitality so I don’t want to ruin the surprises who want to experience themselves and discover in their own way. It was just perfect for us. Big thanks again guys to you for your passion and the hospitality. We’ll definitely come back and visit you whenever we visit Macedonia, until then take care and do what you’re doing because it’s...

Wine tour and tasting in Monastery Winery was one of the best experiences of our trip through North Macedonia. The trip started with driver Stefan picking us up and giving us some introduction into the trip by telling us interesting facts about Macedonia, villages we were driving through and the winery itself - where we're going, how the winery started ... Our tour guide Simon was an amazing storyteller, explaining the process of making wine, rakija and gin. Their products almost have their own personality and resemble quality of the ingredients, production process, aging and everything in between. The wine tasting was accompanied by a charcuterie board of local product that completed the whole experience. What we really appreciated was being able to taste the wines and every other drink in a steady pace while having some pleasant conversations and laughs with Simon, the young lady that was also serving us wine (I'm sorry, I forgot the name), fellow wine taster Karina and everyone else we had the chance to speak to. Besides everything we were served some additional gin and wine that were all very tasty. What felt the best was being welcome there and seeing the passion with which all the staff are working with and the passion in telling the stories of their wine. Would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Ohrid. Thank you...