Wine week(s) Slovenia

Slovenia is a must if you don't want to go too far from home to a lesser-known wine country. Everything there is just a little bit different. Nature, culture, old cellars, beautifully located vineyards, good food and great wines. Magda travelled with Slovenian Tatjana Puklavec.
Text: Magda van der Rijst | Image: Janko Ferlic via Unsplash

Some 15 years back, I made a lightning visit to Slovenia. My first time there, and it became immediately clear to me that Slovenian winemakers take their work very seriously. What was fascinating was the variation in approach. On the one hand because Slovenia was already making really tasty natural wines and orange wines in those years, on the other hand because there was a lot of focus on modernisation in vineyard and cellar. Minimal intervention alongside maximum control. These two currents, with everything in between, went together just fine and are still characteristic today.

PEEPING IN

What also makes Slovenia special is its location between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia and a small coastal strip on the Adriatic Sea. With a surface area of half the Netherlands, it is an uncluttered, compact state that, especially when it comes to wine and food, has great diversity. In the Mediterranean south-west, you can smell the sea and feel the proximity of Italy; in the continental north-east, the atmosphere is similar to Austria.

THE 3 P'S

Slovenia lies on the distant foothills of the Alps, is hilly with a mountain here and there, and has been growing grapes since the Celts and Romans. If you travel through the country, you will see vines everywhere. Although professional viticulture has developed enormously, many private individuals still have a row of vines somewhere around their house. Just for fun, because it's part of the job. The three major wine regions are, from west to east, Primorska, Posavje and Podravje, of which the first and last are the most internationally known.