Kastrati family estate in Kosovo's Rahovec hills making Prokupa and Vranac from hand-picked shell limestone vineyards since 2012.
The producer
The Kastrati family has cultivated vines in the Rahovec hills of south-central Kosovo for several generations, moving into commercial production in 2012 under the Tradita label. The estate farms Prokupa and Vranac, two indigenous varieties native to the Balkan Peninsula, on shell limestone terroir where hand harvesting is standard. Tradita Prokupa is the signature wine: dark-fruited, spiced with tobacco, pepper, and cinnamon, with a firm grip shaped by the limestone soils and oak ageing.
Known for
Indigenous Kosovar varieties on shell limestone
Notable facts
Commercial wine production began in 2012, built on several generations of Kastrati family vine cultivation in Rahovec.
Vineyards are planted on shell limestone in the rolling hills of the Rahovec region.
Grapes are hand-picked across all estate parcels.
Both varieties grown, Prokupa and Vranac, are autochthonous to the Balkan Peninsula.
The story
Illyrian grape goes north
Prokupa is essentially confined to the Balkan Peninsula, where it has grown since antiquity under the name the Illyrian grape. For most of its history it stayed local, bottled for nearby markets if bottled at all. When Tradita began commercial production in 2012 and listed its Prokupa with Systembolaget, the Swedish state retail monopoly, the variety arrived on Northern European shelves for the first time at scale. A grape that had rarely travelled beyond the Adriatic hinterland found itself in Stockholm supermarkets alongside the mainstream European reds it had never competed with.
From the atlas
Tradita Winery
The Kastrati family's estate in the Rahovec hills of Kosovo, making wines from Prokupa and Vranac on shell limestone since 2012.
At A Glance
Region
Rahovec, Kosovo
Main grapes
Prokupa, Vranac
Signature wine
Tradita Prokupa
Defining feature
Indigenous Kosovar varieties hand-picked on shell limestone
The Producer
The Kastrati family has been cultivating vines in the Rahovec region for several generations. In 2012, that long-running family vineyard became a commercial winery, and Tradita began releasing wines under its own label from Prokupa and Vranac grapes. Prokupa is native to the Balkan Peninsula, rarely seen outside it, and it forms the core of the estate's output. Vranac, another autochthonous variety grown across the western Balkans, completes the range.
The estate's name, Tradita, reflects the family's understanding of what the vineyards carry: generations of cultivation on the rolling shell limestone hills of Rahovec before a single commercial bottle was released.
Place
Rahovec sits in south-central Kosovo, where gently rolling hills give the vineyards good exposure and the shell limestone soils drain freely between rains. Shell limestone retains just enough moisture to sustain the vines through dry periods while pushing roots downward in search of water. That effort in the root system concentrates flavour and holds onto acidity in the fruit, both of which show in the Prokupa: a wine with spice, depth, and a grip that keeps it from feeling loose or overripe.
The grapes are hand-picked, a practical necessity on terraced hillside plots where machine harvesting would damage the vine rows and the fragile shell limestone beneath.
Wines
Tradita builds its range around two indigenous varieties. Prokupa is the lead wine: a red with a spiced, somewhat evolved character that carries notes of dried currant, plum, and blackberry alongside tobacco, pepper, incense, and cinnamon, with a background of oak from barrel ageing. The fruit is dark and firm rather than bright or primary, and the spice comes from the grape's own character as much as from the wood.
Vranac anchors the other end of the range. It produces deeper colour and more body than Prokupa, and while Tradita has not released detailed tasting notes for its Vranac, the variety is known throughout the western Balkans for firm tannins and dark fruit. Together the two wines show what Rahovec's shell limestone does with the region's own grapes.
Final Word
Tradita is a Rahovec estate committed to Kosovo's indigenous varieties: Prokupa from shell limestone, hand-harvested, spiced and dark-fruited, and Vranac offering firmer body and tannins alongside it.