The Barrels 🥂 Full of Love

Though its fine wines are part of a young tradition by European standards,- high-quality winemaking didn’t take hold until 1991 - Slovenian wine has emerged as a rising star. 

At the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards, a prestigious international event, Slovenian winemakers took home six gold medals.

A pretty good indicator of the love Slovenians have for their wine is their folk songs and even national anthem. It’s the 7th stanza of the poem Zdravljica (A Toast) by the greatest Slovenian poet France Prešeren.

In its essence it’s a toast and as such one of the few non-militant anthems. It disputes and emphasises ties and friendship among nations.

Zdravljica is an Carmen Figuratum, as each stanza is in the shape of a wine glass. Here’s the seventh stanza as translated by Tom M. S. Priestly in Henry R. Cooper, Jr. (1995):

      Let’s drink that every nation
Will live to see that bright day’s birth
     When ‘neath the sun’s rotation
Dissent is banished from the earth,
                     All will be
                   Kinfolk free
  With neighbours none in enmity.

There are three main wine-producing regions in Slovenia — Podravje, Posavje and Primorska. 

Different soil and climatic conditions in each region — and in micro-regions within the regions — result in different varieties of grapes and types of wine.

The largest wine region in Slovenia is Podravje. Set in the northeast, wine production is centered around the towns of Maribor and Ormož.

Many of the wines grown in this region have a Germanic influence. Popular Podravje wines include Riesling, Traminec and Sivi Pinot. 

Maribor is particularly noteworthy as home to the world’s oldest vine. Žametovka or modra kavčina, which translates to Bleu de Cologne, is confirmed to be at least 450 years old.

A few bottles of wine are still made each year from these vine and they are considered to be of very high value.

Interesting Slovenian particularity is klopotec - a wooden device which scares away the birds with rumbling, so they don’t eat all the delicious grape.

The Primorska region in southwestern Slovenia is one of the country’s oldest wine areas. It’s known for its high-quality wines, including Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon and other reds.

The main winemaking areas are centered around Goriška Brda, Vipava, Slovenian Istra and Kras (Karst). On the steep hills of Brda, grapes, particularly the Rebula variety, are still grown by local families. 

The nutrient-rich soil of the area gives Brda wines a robust, unique flavor.

The Posavje wine region is in southeastern Slovenia, near the Croatian border. The name Posavje translates to ‘Lower Sava', as this region is located towards the lower part of Slovenia’s Sava River valley.

Most wineries found here are based near the towns of Novo Mesto and Krško. The region is known for wines made from Pinot grapes, including Gamay and Chardonnay.

In vineyards across Slovenia, roses are often planted at the end of each row of grapes. 

Because both grapes and roses are susceptible to the same types of fungal disease but roses respond sooner, the roses act as a kind of barometer. This alerts winemakers to a potential problem before it can damage the grapes.

The annual grape harvest that takes place in late summer and early autumn, called trgatev. The tradition of manual grape harvest is one that has persevered in Slovenian culture even in the modern age of technology, likely due to the smaller sizes of the vineyards.

Manual harvesting of grapes is still the most cherished in the winegrowing community, as it ensures that only the best grapes are handpicked to become the best wines. It isn’t the easiest of tasks, but it sure is an extremely important step of the wine-making process. 

And quite fun too. The tradition is that entire families get together to pick the grapes at harvest, visited also by family friends and relatives who gladly lend a helping hand. There’s great food, great company, and some wine!

Being able to chat and sing with others as you work, and spending time in nature is precisely this that makes grape harvest so special.

In the past, when the grape matured, they said to the children that in each and every grape there’s a snake hiding, so they wouldn’t eat grape, as the winegrower needed it for the wine.

When the harvest began, it was said that klopotec scared away the snakes, so the children would help too, but were allowed to eat only the ones which already fell on the ground.

On every harvesting event, not only picking, transportation is important part too. The ones, who are carrying the picked grapes from the vineyard to the house, are called brantači, as they do so with special baskets, which they carry on the back, called brenta. 

This is not an easy job, as the full brenta is quite heavy and vines are usually on hills. But it’s all worth it, as for each successfully delivered brenta the person is awarded with a sip or two of great homemade wine.

Though a great homemade snack satisfies a hungry stomach during work, the main party begins as the sun sets over the vineyards. Likof is a sort of party to celebrate the end of a good harvest. 

It traditionally involves lots of different foods, usually traditional Slovenian dishes like potica, as well as lots of wine, and an accordion for the accompanying music. It is only fair to unwind a bit, especially after a hard day’s work. 

In autumn, weeks after the grapes are harvested, they become wine. Every year on November 11th Slovenians celebrate name day of Saint Martin. In the past this on this holiday people celebrated good harvest, but nowadays it’s especially known as the day when the must becomes wine

On this day (or the first Saturday after it) there are many parties and family feasts, which traditionally include baked goose, red cabbage and “mlinci” - Slovenian pasta tatters made from thin dried dough.

Why baked goose? The legend says that St. Martin, when they wanted to make a bishop out of him against his will, hide himself amongst gooses, but they snitched him by making sound.

That’s why there are many festivals to celebrate it. There’s the Orange Wine Festival and Olives, Wine and Fish Festival held in Izola, Festival of Wine and Chocolate at Podčetrtek, Days of Poetry and Wine, Slovenian Wine Festival ...

... The Teran and Prosciutto Festival in Dutovlje, Festival of Rebula and Olive Oil, and of course The Old Vine Festival. Find out more about the admirable Old Vine!