Project 72 Wine Bar & Restaurant

After spending a full week intensively exploring the wines of Hungary — driving long kilometres to visit more than a dozen producers across six regions, tasting extensive flights and taking careful notes — my wife and I were ready to slow down and simply enjoy the next stage of our trip. Yet by our second day in Serbia, my curiosity about the country’s wines had already been stirred. With just one day left in Novi Sad, we found a wine bar only ten minutes’ walk from our accommodation. My hope was modest: a basic introduction to a few key Serbian varieties rather than the usual international grapes. What followed far surpassed those expectations, ultimately leading to this article — only the third wine‑bar review I’ve written, after Bea Bar in Copenhagen and the iconic Noble Rot in Wellington, New Zealand.

Project 72 Wine Bar & Restaurant has become one of Novi Sad’s most distinctive wine‑driven dining destinations — a place where thoughtful gastronomy, curated wines, and an intimate bistro aesthetic converge into a refined yet deeply personal experience. Opened in 2012, the venue was originally known simply as Wine & Deli, signalling its early commitment to pairing imaginative small plates with a serious, globally oriented wine list. From its beginnings, Project 72 introduced a concept that was new to Novi Sad: tapas‑style dishes designed for pairing, served in a relaxed but carefully composed environment, with professional sommelier guidance at the core of the experience.

Located on the quiet corner of Kosovska 15a, just steps from the city centre, Project 72 quickly attracted attention for its creative culinary approach and its unusually deep wine selection. Today, the wine list features over 200 labels from around the world, supported by knowledgeable sommeliers who guide guests through pairings that elevate both the food and the wine. This emphasis on wine culture — not merely wine service — has been central to the restaurant’s identity from the start.

The restaurant’s evolution from Wine & Deli into Project 72 reflects a maturation of its philosophy: a commitment to rooted, ingredient‑driven cooking and a belief that wine should be integrated into the dining experience with intention and expertise. Critics have consistently praised the venue for its balance of modern creativity and warm, Vojvodina‑style hospitality, noting its role as a pioneer of Novi Sad’s contemporary wine‑bistro scene.

While Project 72 does not position itself as a “fine dining” establishment, its reputation is undeniably blue‑chip within Serbia’s gastronomic community. Esteemed wine and food publications such as Vino & Fino have highlighted its inspirational menu, high‑calibre service, and sommelier excellence, singling out the restaurant as one of the country’s most compelling destinations for wine‑centred dining.

Left: The author with Project 72 Sommelier Igor Obrenovic.     Right: A beautiful antique (one of many archaic machines) graces the main bar near the entrance.

Much of the clarity and coherence of my tasting at Project 72 came from the guidance of Igor Obrenović, the sommelier who curated the wines and pairings throughout my visit. Igor works with a calm, attentive style — listening first, then shaping a sequence of wines that feels both deliberate and personal. His decisions around temperature, pacing, and structure (such as serving the first Prokupac chilled to meet the back‑palate heat of the baked spicy peppers) showed a deep understanding of how Serbian varieties behave in real dining contexts.

Igor entered the world of wine almost by accident. In 2014, while studying to become a nutritionist and dietitian, he worked in a restaurant and quickly realised that gastronomy — not clinical nutrition — was where he truly belonged. A few years later, he helped open the kitchen of a new restaurant with a friend, and a nearby wine distribution company began bringing in dozens of bottles for them to taste. That moment, he says, set the course of his professional life.

Still young and full of enthusiasm, Igor pushed for the restaurant to develop a strong wine identity. With little formal experience, he learned by doing — and often by making mistakes — which only deepened his curiosity and commitment to understanding wine properly. Since then, he has worked exclusively in restaurants where wine plays a central role. He has visited many Serbian wineries, and meeting producers, walking vineyards, and understanding the philosophy behind each wine remains a core part of his development.

In 2018, he completed a course with the Serbian Sommelier Association, and his next major goal is to continue his education through WSET.

Igor has been part of Project 72 for six consecutive years. For the past three, he has served as floor manager while also taking a leading role in shaping the restaurant’s wine list — a position that allows him to bring both structure and personality to one of Novi Sad’s most respected wine programmes.

A Culinary Dialogue: How Igor’s Menu Choices Elevated the Wine Flight

What distinguishes Project 72 is not only the calibre of its wine list, but the way the kitchen and the sommelier team work in tandem. After completing the white flight, Igor suggested a dish that sounded almost whimsical — even suspicious — on paper: paprika‑pesto ice cream. We genuinely thought it was a misprint until the plate arrived.

To pair it, Igor poured a bright, fresh méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine, based on Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay from Erdevik. The wine’s crispness and fine mousse cut through the creaminess of the ice cream, while its citrus lift played against the paprika’s gentle warmth. The cacao toast added a subtle bitterness that the sparkling wine softened beautifully. It was one of those rare pairings where the dish and the wine seem to complete each other — an unlikely idea executed with absolute precision.

The progression into reds was equally thoughtful. For the first Prokupac — Doja VDT Prokupac 2021 — Igor’s pairing was particularly inspired. The wine was served chilled, a decision that sharpened its natural brightness and brought its white‑ and black‑pepper spice into vivid focus. This mattered because the accompanying dish — baked spicy peppers with beef and a light sprinkling of cheese — carried a genuine chilli‑type heat, not fiery at the front of the mouth like Thai chilli, but a slower, deeper burn that built toward the back palate. The cool temperature of the Prokupac acted almost like a palate stabiliser: it softened the heat just enough while amplifying the wine’s peppery aromatics, creating a clean, resonant bridge between dish and glass. It was a pairing that felt both intuitive and technically exact, showing how a chilled, spice‑driven Prokupac can handle dishes with real back‑palate intensity.

The final match was more indulgent. The Doja Breg Prokupac 2021, deeper, more concentrated, and clearly shaped by oak, needed a dish with equal presence. Igor chose veal beef cheeks, slow‑cooked until yielding and rich. The wine’s darker fruit and structure wrapped around the dish’s depth, while the oak provided a frame that matched the savoury intensity of the cheeks. It was a classic pairing, executed with confidence and restraint.

Two contrasting styles of Serbia's distinctive red Prokupac, on the left lighter bodied, with pepper spice overlaying raspberry and cherry fruits, on the right much more full-bodied, with concentrated dark cherry, plum and blackberries flavours, vanilla oak and velvety tannins.

Across the entire experience, what stood out was the coherence of the dialogue between kitchen and cellar. Igor’s dishes were not simply “paired” — they were curated to reveal the wines’ personalities, and the wines in turn illuminated the creativity of the kitchen. It was a tasting that showcased not only Serbian wine, but Project 72’s philosophy: thoughtful, surprising, and deeply rooted in flavour.

Conclusion: A Personal Impression of Serbia Through the Glass

What stayed with me most from my visit to Project 72 was how clearly the wines expressed Serbia’s identity — and how thoughtfully Igor and the sommelier team revealed that identity through their pairings. Of the whites, it was the two Grašacs that impressed me most: one clean and quietly expressive, the other deeper and more textural, showing how this grape — long misunderstood — is now becoming a cornerstone of modern Serbian white wine. Among the reds, the Prokupacs stood out for their clarity of character: one bright, pepper‑spiced and served chilled to dance with the back‑palate heat of Igor’s baked spicy peppers; the other richer, darker, and perfectly matched to slow‑cooked veal cheeks.

Part of the pleasure of the tasting was discovering the stories behind these grapes. Tamjanika, for example, is Serbia’s aromatic expression of the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains family — intensely perfumed, lifted, and unmistakably Muscat, yet shaped by local tradition into something more savoury and grounded. Grašac, once known as Italian Riesling, is not related to Riesling at all; it is a Central European variety with deep roots in the Pannonian Basin, now being rediscovered for its ability to produce fresh, textured, terroir‑driven wines. And Prokupac, Serbia’s flagship red, is an indigenous grape with centuries of history — naturally bright, spicy, and energetic, capable of both light, chilled styles and more serious, oak‑framed interpretations. Tasting these varieties side by side made it clear how Serbia’s wine culture is evolving: not by imitating international trends, but by refining its own heritage.