Although Slovenia is not much larger than the U.S. state of New Jersey and you can drive across it on motorways from east to west in about three hours and north to south in even less time, there's surprising diversity of geography, geology, climate ... and, of course, wine ... in this small place.
Sometimes likened to "Europe in miniature" because of this variety, Slovenia touches the Adriatic along a short stretch of coast near the port city of Koper; it offers a Mediterranean-style climate along its border with Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia; it rises to craggy Alps in its northwestern corner adjacent to Austria, and flattens into rolling farmland on the Pannonian plain in its eastern corner bordering Hungary.
With the help of the map above (courtesy of Poslovna Skupnost za Vinogradnistvo in Vinarstvo Slovenije, the Union for Slovenian Viticulture and Enology), let's get oriented to Slovenia's basic wine regions - useful information if you plan a wine visit here.
Similar to other wine-growing countries, Slovenia sorts its wine regions geographically, dividing and subdividing its territory into specific sections whose names appear on wine labels and from which it is assumed that wines will bear some regional character. Wines are usually varietally labeled, indicating the grape variety from which the wine is made, although occasional blends may bear proprietary names. Finally, wine labels will often indicate the wine's quality level: "Vrhunsko" is the highest regulatory category, although some producers - in a move akin to the Italian use of "vina da tavola" - are now rejecting its use, labeling their wines simply "Kakovostno" ("good").
The three primary districts are Primorski (meaning "littoral" or "near the sea," shown in reddish-brown on Slovenia's southwestern corner, near Trieste in Italy); Posavski (the Sava river valley, shown in olive on the southeastern corner, near Zagreb in Croatia); and Podravski (the Drava river valley, shown in orange in the northeast, bordering Austria's Steiermark region and Hungary).
Each of these districts is further divided into smaller designated wine areas called "vinorodni okolis," similar to the French "appellation controllée" or Italian "D.O.C.," and these "okolis" in turn may be further modified by the name of the specific town, village or vineyard where the grapes were grown.
To make matters even more helpful or confusing, depending on your attitude, many Slovene wine maps will also overlay this information with 20 Vinsko Turisticnih Cest ("VTC" or "Touristic Wine Roads") identifying groups of neighboring wineries.
Here's a quick-reference card outlining some of these divisions. The appellations (Okolis) are shown in bold, with each appellation's WTCs (wine roads) listed beneath.
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Primorski
Briski
Vipavski
Kraski
Koprski |
Posavski
Belokrajnski
Dolenjski
Bizeljsko-Sremiski
Smarsko-Virstanjski |
Podravski
Haloze z Obrobnim Pogorjem
Osrednje Slovenske Gorice
Ljutomersko-Ormoske Gorice
Mariborski
Prekmurske Gorice |
Most of Slovenia's wine grapes are familiar varieties, many found worldwide and a few regional grapes shared with Slovenia's neighbors in Northeastern Italy (Ribolla and Tocai Friulano, for example) and Southern Austria (such as Kerner). The Slovene names for these grapes can fool you, though, although fortunately for visitors from farther West, Slovenia is one of the Slavic nations that uses our Roman alphabet and not the Russian Cyrillic. (Purists should note further that Slavic languages add two additional consontants using an accent mark, a small 'v' or inverted circumflex, over the "s" and "z" in some cases, changing their pronunciation. Unfortunately this accent is not available on non-Slavic keyboards.)
Here's a quick list of the varieties found most often, with the Slovene name given where it differs from the international grape name:
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Chardonnay |
Müller-Thurgau (Rizvanec) |
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Pinela |
Tocai Friulano (Furlanski Tokaj) |
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Barbera |
Pinot Noir (Modri Pinot) |
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Malocrn | |
Finally, here's a vocabulary list of common Slovene wine words that you may find on labels or along the wine roads.
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Beli or Belo ("Beh-lee") - White, as in Beli Pinot |
Rdece ("Ur-det-see") - Red |
