Slovenia is a small European country with a Long history of wine production. This is not surprising given its Mediterranean location between the Northern latitudes of 45 and 47 degrees, latitudes shared by Bordeaux, Burgundy and the northern Rhône. The country is also bordered by four of Europe's Oldest wine producing countries: Croatia to the South, Hungary to the east, Austria to the north and Italy to the west.
Despite the cultural and political turmoil that has besieged the Balkan states over the past century, Slovenia has maintained its wine industry, which has flourished particularly since the country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
Slovenia is largely landlocked, with only a few kilometers of coastline at the top of the Istrian peninsula, just south of Trieste and the Venezia-giulia/friuli">Friuli-venezia-giulia/carso">Carso DOC of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Slovenia's Climate has some maritime tendency to the west, drawn from the northern Adriatic, while there are strong continental influences to the north and east, created by the Alps and the Pannonian basin. The topographical variation makes it difficult to classify Slovenia into a climatic category, and its climate is often described as "sub-Mediterranean".
This variation also gives wine producers a wide choice as to where to locate their vineyards.
While general climatic patterns play out across the country, within these macroclimates there are a series of more subtle variations that contribute to local terroirs.
Slovenia has three main wine regions: Podravje in the east, Primorska in the west and Posavje just south of the centre.
Podravje is the engine room of the Slovenian wine industry, producing about half of the country's national output. Its densest vineyards are located around the eastern city of Maribor, in the valleys of the Pesnica, Drava and Mura rivers.
Pinot Gris is a grey grape variety mutated from Pinot Noir. It has its origins in Burgundy, where it is called pinot-beurot in reference to the colour of the grey robes worn by the monks of the region. Established in Alsace since the 17th century, pinot gris was called tokay until 2007. It is made up of bunches of small berries that vary in colour from pink to blue-grey. It is particularly well suited to the continental climate because it is resistant to the cold in winter and to spring frosts. This variety also likes dry limestone soils with plenty of sunshine in the summer. Pinot Gris is well suited to late harvesting or to the selection of noble grapes, depending on the year and the concentration of sugars in the berries. Pinot Gris wines are distinguished by their aromatic complexity of white fruits, mushrooms, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, etc., and their great finesse. In the Loire Valley, pinot gris is used in the Coteaux-d'Ancenis appellations. It gives dry or sweet wines with pear and peach aromas.
white wines from the region of Slovenia go well with generally quite well with dishes of rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), shellfish or vegetarian such as recipes of salmon steak on a bed of leeks, three ways to prepare chinese noodles or quiche lorraine.
On the nose in the region of Slovenia often reveals types of flavors of peach, vanilla or black fruit and sometimes also flavors of lime, green apple or tropical fruit.
With more than 18,200 wines tasted by our expert judging panels and entrants spanning 56 countries, the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) 2022 edition promises to deliver an eclectic mix of brilliant bottles to seek out – across a broad range of prices. Official results for DWWA 2022, including the winners of coveted Platinum and Best in Show medals, won’t be published until 7th of June. However, here are just a few of the styles to watch out for, based on a selection of personal highligh ...
I first contributed to Decanter back in November 1988; the hundreds of columns and articles I’ve written since constitute a journey of discovery. I squirm, though, if I’m described as a ‘wine expert’. Whatever wine knowledge we acquire quickly cools, congeals and crusts over, like custard or gravy, as the years pass. The wine world expands at a clip. Every vintage rewrites history. It’s the chance to share discoveries – not just about wines, but about people, places and the act of drinking itsel ...
The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...
