In 2021, he took over the care of wine made from Novi Slankamen vineyard grapes.
His first oenological steps were made while working in wineries in Europe and South America. During his time in Italy, he worked at the Masciarelli winery, while in Chile he was an oenologist at the wineries Viña Carmen and RR Wines. After his international experience he returned and worked in Serbia, and for the past 12 years his wines have been awarded multiple times with the most important world and regional awards, all of which significantly and positively influenced the improvement of Serbian wines reputation in the world. All this has positioned him at the very top of the most prestigious wine connoisseurs in Serbia.
He is currently employed as the Chief Oenologist at the Šapat Wine Atelier, for which he made new wines and a great qualitative leap forward.
He participated in the design of more than 20 wineries, implementing the most modern technologies and techniques in wine production. He graduated from the Faculty of Technology at the University of Novi Sad, majoring in Microbiological Processes.
After 13 years spent in the most luxurious kitchens of restaurants and hotels in Paris, he took over the kitchen at Šapat Wine Atelier in 2022.
He gained his rich experience in restaurants that have been crowned with one to three stars in France, some of them being Four Seasons Hotel George V, Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, as well as the restaurants Le Pré Catelan and Lasserre, which is one of the oldest restaurants in the capital of France.
The core features of his gastronomic philosophy are seriousness and regularity of food preparation. After more than a decade, he decided to return to Serbia and bring his superior culinary skills to his homeland, where he will combine French techniques and Serbian ingredients.
He believes that a difference between a good and a great restaurant is all about details and believes that Fleur de Sel restaurant will be one of the best restaurants in this part of the world. With his team, he will carefully prepare dishes that will be synonyms for both restaurants at the Šapat winery.
French cuisine is considered to be the number 1 cuisine in the world, and Nikola precisely started his education at the age of 14 in the west at the Médéric School of Gastronomy. He has been mentoring and leading top chefs for the past 6 years.
From 2022, he took the responsibility of being the General Manager of the Šapat Wine Atelier restaurant complex, where, after 16 years spent in America, he decided to apply his knowledge in Serbia.
He got involved in the world of wine in the American Wine School of Philadelphia, where he was later a lecturer. After graduating from this school, he went to the prestigious Court of Master Sommelier where he became a certified sommelier, followed by the advanced programme, where he had the opportunity to continue his training while traveling around the world’s wine regions.
In famous restaurants in New York, he worked as Head sommelier, as well as wine and beverage director. Some of the famous New York restaurants where he led programs and trained staff are Standard Highline, Riverpark, The Clocktower, Milos. In 2017, he organized a humanitarian dinner in the Riverpark restaurant in partnership with the entire team of the Noma restaurant from Copenhagen, which was the world’s best restaurant in that year.
He was engaged as an expert associate of Vino & Fino magazine, as well as an international wine judge. He very openly shares his enthusiasm to bring the world’s highest standards of high gastronomy, service and wine selection to Serbia with our top team and to place us on the world’s map where we deserve to be.
He graduated from the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education at the University of Niš and also worked as a swimming coach. He focused his sportsmanship and enthusiasm for sports and teamwork on wine and gastronomy, and now he wants to share his experiences and, as a mentor, help younger colleagues achieve success in the hospitality industry, applying the highest world standards.
