Opening a Small Family Distillery in Pepelishte, Striving for Great Challenges

Those who regularly follow us already know that the village of Pepelishte is becoming a destination where new small family wineries and distilleries are emerging more and more often.

Today, the kajak.mk team will introduce you to the story of Dimche Naumov, the man who founded the Enoch distillery in 2022, and in 2023, also established the winery under the same name.

Dimche tells us that the family tradition of making rakija in his family dates back to 1972, when his grandfather began crafting the vineyard story. After his grandfather, the legacy was passed down to his father, and today, Dimche is the one who continues the story.

You can order Dimche's rakija from the Enoch distillery with just one click HERE.

"At our place, there has always been a strict principle when making rakija. It must be a pure and natural grape rakija, naturally colored with wood and stone fruits. We would never think of using artificial flavors and colors," says Dimche, adding that many of their regular customers notice this.

Around 2018, he inherited the vineyard plantations and began independently distilling rakija. The rakija is produced exclusively from the vineyard plantations of the Naumovski family. The reason they started producing rakija in larger quantities was due to the low purchase price of grapes, as well as the successes they achieved at several competitions.

At the very beginning, when Dimche inherited the vineyard plantations, he started producing several types of double-distilled rakija. Through constant tasting over time, he realized that the longer it aged, the more impressive its taste, color, and aromas became. With this discovery, Dimche decided to send his rakija to be evaluated at a competition, where, to his pleasant surprise, he won a gold medal. This award encouraged him to send rakija to Serbia for a large international competition, where he once again won a gold medal in fierce competition. This success was the main motivation for Dimche to open his own distillery.

"Another significant motivation for me is that, despite the many adulterations that are made to rakija by producers who just want to sell volume, I want to offer the end consumer pure rakija with natural flavors. Every time I send rakija to my clients, their reactions have always been positive. Such comments encourage us to invest in quality," says Dimche.

From 2018 to 2022, they worked on several types of double-distilled rakija. Some were aged in oak barrels, and they also worked on the gold award-winning rakija, which ages with several types of wood. This rakija is an old family recipe developed by Dimche's father over the years.

Dimche says they expect many excellent rakijas, numerous awards, and gold medals, along with satisfied customers.

Along with the distillery, the Enoch winery was also established and developed. The wine is produced in the same old, traditional way, without technology. Dimche says that, fortunately, they have managed to make good wine. This year, for the first time, they successfully produced Chardonnay from their own vineyard, which is a light wine that can be consumed in various quantities.

Dimche aims to produce a larger quantity of Chardonnay, red Merlot, and white Rkatsiteli wine in the future, all from their own vineyards. They are also working on creating a tasting corner in an old room, built from stone, which they hope to complete in the near future.

The vineyard plantations of Enoch are located in the village of Pepelishte, Negotino, where both the distillery and winery are situated, and where the production takes place. They also have a tasting facility in the central area of the city of Kavadarci, at Iljo Kostov Street, No. 4.