Ep 178: Slovenia

Wine for Normal People - A podcast by Elizabeth Schneider

Categories:

Arts

 

Slovenia is small but it's up and coming! It's a fascinating place with a long winemaking tradition that should pique your interest.

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Slovenia's Wine Stats:

  • Population of two million people, who drink a LOT: 5th highest wine consumption per capita in the world
  • About 75% of the country's production is white wine
  • 55K Planted acres makes it the size of Sonoma County, in California
  • Small portion of the wine is exported
  • 70% of the wine is premium, most is made in the clean modern style 
    • Some using ancient techniques (clay amphorae) to give the texture a tannic rasp and the wine a rosy, sometimes amber, hue (orange wines)

Slovenia's Wine History

  • Of Celts, Romans, Christians, and Napoleon
  • By the end of the WWII, co-ops controlled nearly all of the region's wine production: Sucky bulk wine production with a few small private wineries in the Drava Valley region
  • In 1967, the government established the PSVVS (Business Association for Viticulture and Wine Production)
  • In 1991, Slovenia was the first to declare independence from Yugoslavia
  • Dictatorship/Socialism/Communism separated countries from centuries of winemaking traditions but they are catching up now

Geography 

  • At crossroad of eastern and central Europe bordered by Hungary, Italy, Croatia, and Austria 
  • Important Rivers: Drava and Sava connect to the Danube
  • Dynamic regions on borders

3 Main Regions

  • Primorska: 
    • Near Italian region of Fruili Venezia Giulia, high quality whites and reds
    • Sub regions: Vipava Valley, Goriska Brda (gore-ISH-KA BURR-DA), Koper (pr. Coper), Karst plateau district
    • Grapes: Ribolla Gialla, Pinot Grigio, other whites, Refosco other reds
    • Experimentation and blending of old and new: Orange wines, clay amphora, and long, long aging
  • Drava (Podravje) 
    • Botrytis affected whites, Welschriesling, Furmin
    • Nearly 97% of the wine made in the Drava Valley region is white wine
    • Seven sub-regions
  • Lower Sava (Posavje) 
    • Only Slovenian wine region that produces more red wine than white, though not by a large margin
    • Three districts, you may see Lower Carniola on a bottle
    • Lower Sava Valley region is dominated by bulk wine, rather than premium wine, production
    • Use of many native grapes

Hope you enjoy this off-the-beaten trail podcast.