About Ivana Simjanovska

Ivana began her adventures in wine in 2007 by establishing North Macedonia’s first wine club and organising a series of successful tasting events. In 2011 she wrote and published the first Macedonian Wine Guide with Dave Vlam and four years later collaborated with Paul Caputo on the second edition.

Today, Ivana is an important writer and critic with a widely recognised specialist knowledge in Macedonian viticulture. She continues to promote the country’s wine at festivals and fairs throughout Europe, gives educational lectures on the subject and makes regular contributions to a range of international wine publications. Ivana is also a specialist in wine tourism at Macedonia Experience and organiser of the Skopje Wine Salon - Vinodonia. Her personal blog can be found at www.ivanasimjanovska.com.

Ivana scores wine using the following rubric:

  • 95-100 - Unique and exquisite wines which age extraordinarily well
  • 90-94 - Excellent wines, perfectly balanced with depth, complexity, and potential to age well
  • 85-89 - High quality wines with expressive varietal and terroir characteristics
  • 80-84 - Pleasant wines for everyday consumption