Albania makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 24 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Femente · Country Almanac
A wine guide toAlbania
Albania
24
40
118
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Lowlands/Coastal Region
The Lowlands pull cool Atlantic air across sandy soils, forcing reds toward savory minerality and whites toward bracing acidity—a climate…
Central Albania
Central Albania's reds run dense and earthy, pulled from limestone slopes where Vranac and Kadarka ripen into wines that taste of dark…
Durrës
8 estates working under the regional appellation.
Wine of Albania
Albania's wines split between the mineral white wines of the cooler north and the darker, earthier reds of the south—a country still…
Vlore
The southernmost Albanian coast pulls cool air off the Ionian Sea into vineyards still finding their voice—reds built on structure rather…
Eastern Albania
Red wines here pull toward earthy minerality and moderate tannin rather than ripe fruit—a function of cooler hillside sites and extended…
Pogradec
Pogradec's wines split evenly between white and red, each shaped by the cool breath off Lake Ohrid—a geography that keeps acidity high…
Fier
The Fier Lowlands produce wines built on tension—reds with the grip of cooler-climate tannin, whites with the salinity that comes from…
Berat
The hillside vineyards around Berat lean toward rosé, pulling soft stone fruit and salt from clay soils that warm quickly under the…
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Albania our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Mesadoria Restaurant
Traditional · Modern — Tirana
84
Eutopia_restaurant
European · Modern — Tirana
83
HELLO RESTAURANT & BAR
Grill · European — Tirana
44
Volli Restaurant
Grill · European — Tirana
43
Beor Brasserie
European — Tirana
42
Viro Steak Restaurant
Steak · Grill · Traditional — Tirana
42
La Taberna
Mediterranean — Tirana
41
HIJA E MALEVE
Grill · Traditional · European — Shalë
40
Restorant Serenata Korcare
European · Traditional — Korçë
40
Steak House TE ILKA Since 1989
Grill · Steak · European — Velabisht
40
Restaurant VaXheNeDi
Mediterranean — Shijak
40
Restaurant Guri i Zi&Villa
Grill · Traditional · European — Guri i Zi
40
Add Albania to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.