This paper analyses the first world classifications of Serbian wines based on
Andr? Jullien?s famous Topographie de tous les Vignobles connus? published
as early as 1816 (18222, 18323). It points to the far-reaching importance of
Jullien?s work, clarifies the circumstances of its creation, its
methodology, the significance and types of data presented, and, which is
particularly important, identifies most of the sources used by the author.
Jullien?s Topographie is not a perfect book free of geographical and
historical errors, nor does it cover all winegrowing regions in the world.
However, it is the first general classification of all wines, both French
and ?foreign?, based on fairly clear criteria and written by an experienced
and, as it seems, unprejudiced connoisseur. Its importance was recognized
immediately after publication, and the global nature of its classification
made it the basis for all similar undertakings. The analytical focus in the
article is restricted to the territory of the present-day Serbia. In the
Ottoman ?province? of Serbia, he singled out the environs of Belgrade as the
most important winegrowing region, adding to it the environs of Pristina in
the third edition. Wines produced in the eastern Srem (Karlovci) stand out
in terms of quality. This overview also includes the winegrowing region of
Banat with Vrsac and Bela Crkva (Weisskirchen). In the wine world of that
time wines from Srem and Banat were classified as the wines of the Austrian
Empire or, more narrowly, as Hungarian wines. Andr? Jullien obviously did
not taste any of the mentioned Serbian wines personally. He relied above all
on the information available in encyclopaedias, statistic records,
geographies and travel accounts. The search for and identification of his
sources has shown how thorough, consistent and honest he was in using such
data. Undoubtedly, the best Serbian wines were made in and around Karlovci.
A sweet red wine, Ausbruch, gained a high repute around the mid-18th
century, retaining it into the 20th century. At first, Jullien classified it
into the third and then into the exceptionally high second class of all
world?s sweet red wines. For example, of all Hungarian wines, only Tokay was
rated above it. Karlovci?s semi-sweet and dry wines received the same high
second-class rating. Jullien?s classifications of Serbian wines confirmed
the continued existence of high-quality winegrowing areas in what is now
Serbia, from Roman times to the beginning of the 19th century.