The Rajac Wine Cellars

Around Negotin in the far east of Serbia there are several pimnice, villages made entirely of wine cellars, and the largest and best preserved is at Rajac. Around two hundred and seventy cellars of dressed stone with heavy timber doors and stone-slab roofs stand together on a hillside, arranged along lanes with a small square, looking exactly like a village except that nobody lives in it: the houses of the villagers are elsewhere and these buildings exist only to make and keep wine, occupied at the harvest and for feast days. Most were built through the nineteenth century by masons who also worked on churches, which shows in the stonework. Some cellars have been restored and receive visitors for tastings of the local reds, and the region grows several varieties that are being brought back after long neglect.

What you actually see

• The cellar village - some two hundred and seventy stone cellars on the hill.
• The stonework - dressed masonry and slab roofs by nineteenth-century church masons.
• A tasting - local reds in a restored cellar.
• The harvest - the weeks when the village actually fills with people.

When to go

May to October, with September the most alive as the harvest brings people up to the cellars; feast days also fill the village. Outside those times it is atmospheric but largely empty and locked, so arrange a tasting in advance rather than hoping to find a door open.

Honest expectations

Many cellars are locked, unrestored or slowly falling in, and without a booking you may find a beautiful but shut village. It is a long way east, near the Bulgarian border, and public transport is minimal. The wines are improving from a low base and are of local rather than international interest. Facilities are essentially nil.

Nearby

The Rogljevo cellars are the neighbouring pimnica; Negotin and the Danube are close.