Ep 178: Slovenia
Slovenia is small but it's up and coming! It's a fascinating place with a long winemaking tradition that should pique your interest. ________________________________________________________ Before you read on, a great thanks to our sponsor: The Great Courses Plus! The Great Courses Plus has over 8,000 lectures on a ton of subjects, taught by experts. Well done and escapism that's addictive! You'll lear so much! Go to www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/wine to get a free trial (the special URL lets them know you heard about it here!). As I mentioned, The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking is mandatory for you wine education!!! Watch and get back to me!! _____________________________________________________________ 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.
