 Have you ever tried Slovenian wine before? This is a tiny country in central Europe, but it packs a lot of Venice punch. I'm gonna break down the country and recommend some of my favorite producers. That's all coming up. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horkey. Welcome back to the show where we help you drink adventurously so you can expand your palette and expand your mind. We're gonna be expanding palatine wines today with wines from one of my favorite parts of Europe here. And that is Slovenia. If you ask a lot of random people, they might not even know where Slovenia is. It's really this tiny country that's kind of wedged in between Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Croatia. Sits right in the heart of central Europe, right in the bridge to Eastern Europe. There's a long history of wine making here. The Illyrians, the Celts were making wine way even before the Romans. Then the country was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918, it became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. And then in 1991, it became independent. There's about 22,000 hectares of vineyards in the country. Just to give you an estimate, that's a little bit more than Napa Valley. And just take this for instance, Napa Valley produces only 4% of all Californian wine. The country's really built on small family-run sellers. There's about 2,500 bottlers in Slovenia for such a small country. That's a lot of different wine brands. Among all the countries in the ex-Yugoslavia, Slovenia is held up in a high regard in terms of their wines. The climate is kind of quasi-mediterranean all the way up to true continental in the eastern part of the country. There are high, high mountains, the Alps in the northern parts of Slovenia. So the cool air comes blowing down that really has an influence on the climate. When you're choosing a wine in Slovenia, luckily most wines are labeled by variety. So that's easy to know what you're buying. There are producers that name their wines after a Kuve name. There are also some special protected names in Slovenia, special wines, you know, like Chianti, Clasco in Italy. You know, Slovenia has some wines like Taran, Svigcek in a couple of others. The name for wine in Slovenian is Vino. Bello means white and Ardece means red. But how do you know what the dryness level is in the wine? There's gonna be four categories and it's gonna be stated on the back of the label. First you'll have Suho, which is dry. You'll have Pol Suho, which is off dry. Pol Slabko, which is semi-sweet. And then finally, Slabko, which is sweet. They also have the German-Austrian rules for Predacat wines in terms of late harvest, selected late harvest, dried berry late harvest and ice wine, but I won't get into that in this video. On the back of Slovenian wine, you can see if it's a PGI or a PDO wine. That is a wine with protected origins. At the bottom level of quality, you're gonna have de gel no vino, which is basically table wine. That's gonna have PGO at the end of it. Moving up a level on quality of a types of wines that you're probably gonna be buying, these are Cacavos no vino. This is basically a quality wine and you'll see a ZGP at the end of it. That basically means an appellation. Think of ZGP like DOC's in Italy, AOC's in France, DOC's also in Portugal. And at the highest level, you'll have Vergunsko ZGP. These are wines that are made with real strict controls. Most quality producers I know battle at the Cacavos no vino level and I think it's because it allows for a little more flexibility in the winemaking. Don't even make me try to pronounce ZGP and what that stands for. I know the Slavic languages. Slovenia is broken down into three wine regions and then those regions have subdivisions or wine districts. Two of the wine regions are in the eastern part of the country and those are Pusavje and Prodravje. Pusavje is around the river Sava, Podravje is around the river Drava. Both of these regions are more cool climate regions. So you're gonna get a lot of white grapes, grapes like Sauvignon Blanc, Lasky Riesling which is basically Welsh Riesling, Grashavina, Pinot Gris, Gertströmina, Riesling, Chippoon which is known as Furment and of course Pinot Noir, some Merlot and some Blau Frankish. You just have to know that Slovenians call Pinot Noir, Modri Pinot and Blau Frankish, Modri Frankinja. I have to admit it's the part of the country where I'm a little bit the weakest in terms of Slovenian wines are much stronger on the western side. Pusavje is probably the least harrowed region for finer wines in Slovenia but there are some impressive producers. Like I came across this one, Chukje, he's a French man making wine married to a Slovenian woman. This is the Lodoma. This is a single vineyard Blau Frankish which is an outstanding wine. Shows a lot of elegance and depth, really impressive. Other producers in that region I recommend are Keltis, Istinit, Klettprus, Sturm and Freely. Podravje is located in the northern part of the country, the northeast part, so it's bordering Austria, Croatia and only at a sliver of Hungary. I think Sauvignon Blanc is the best here. Also, I've tasted some great Gavette Stremina, Riesling as well, Pinot Gris and then especially Chippur or Furment. One of the most famous wine districts of Podravje is Stajerska which produces some outstanding white wines. This is one of my favorite producers actually. This is Vinocupil and this is the White Star. I believe this is Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris, all blended, barrel fermented, really rich, bigger white wines. I've also tasted a lot of surprisingly good Pinot Noir from this region. Other producers I recommend are Puklevitz, Heapsgood Winery, Johanna's Pratner, Asierbaiz, Madoff, Matitsch, Slapchak, Dukal, Gobal, Gontz and Dveri Pax. This part of the country is becoming hotter and hotter and there's a lot of small sellers doing a lot of experimental wines. It's really a place to keep your eye on. It's a place I wanna spend more time in in the future. Do you wanna try Slovenian wines? Well, there's a great option for those in the European Union. Just check out the sponsor of today's video, Vino.co, that's V-I-N-O-O dot C-O for the biggest selection of hand-picked high quality Slovenian wines from boutique family run producers. Vino delivers Slovenian wines all over the EU and today you can order Slovenian wine with a 10% discount as a viewer of this show. Just enter the coupon code EWT10 at checkout and share this with your wine friends so they can get this offer too. Now back to the show. In the western part of Slovenia, that's where you'll find Primorska. It is the most prestigious region in Slovenia in terms of high quality wines. This part of Slovenia is kind of a mild Mediterranean climate or quasi-Mediterranean. It has influence from the Adriatic Sea but it also has cooling influence from the Alps and there's a lot more rain than a normal Mediterranean climate. This is also a part of Slovenia that has more unique grape varieties and very distinctive wines. Primorska is broken up into four wine districts. In Slovenia, Istra, they focus on Malvasia, Istarska and Rafasq. Malvasia, Istarska or Istria and Malvasia is a wine that can be floral. It can be pretty high alcohol. This is the Karenica and Moshgon, Padermo. This wine is macerated. It's heavy, minimal intervention and stuff but the skins on Malvasia, Istarska are sweet and the tannins are so lovely. I personally prefer the grape to be done in this style. In Slovenia, Istra, you'll also find the grape Rafasq which is a crazy, wild, untamed red grape can have flavors of rusty nail, a lot of wild berries, sometimes blackberries, mulberries, iron, chewy tannins and sharp acidity. When it's done really well, I think it can resemble Northern Rome's Sera. On the other side when it's too acidic sometimes it can be enamel stripping and you really need food. This is a brand new producer in Slovenia, Istra. This is the Zaro, this is the Rafasq. Interesting wine, high in acidity but you have some of those unique Rafasq flavors. Other producers that I recommend in Slovenia, Istra are Rajman, Copa, Rodica, Royaz, Bordeaux, Gordia and Klabien. Move a little bit more north, you have Kras which is a limestone plateau. It's an extension of the Carso in Italy. Here you'll also find these grapes, Malvasia, Istarska and also Rafasq but you'll find some nice Merlot. Also some ad grapes like Vitowska, Pinella, Zelen, those grapes that you find in Vipava. The wines there can be a little bit rustic but really full of mineral flavors. Some producers that I recommend are Chotar, Lisiac, Stemburger and Skrull. Bordering Kras is the gorgeous Vipava Valley. This is a corridor that really connects Central and Eastern Europe. This is a breathtakingly beautiful region. I remember the first time going there just taking the long drive through the valley and just being in awe. In terms of area dedicated to vineyards, this is the second largest wine district in Slovenia. Only second to Shtajerska in Podravje. Here for red grapes you'll find fabulous Merlot, some excellent Pinot Noir and some very interesting Barbera. Cabernet Sauvignon is also grown. You'll also see Blau Frankish. Whites is where it gets really exciting in Vipava. You'll see things like Reboula, also known as Reboula Gialla, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc. Then you'll find really interesting grapes like Zelen, Pinela, Vitowska. There's also plenty of small, minimal intervention sellers. I have some of my favorites right here. Like the excellent Reboula is from Lelčnik or Svetlik. Lelčnik is one of the guys that kind of kicked off this macerated wine movement along with Gravner, Raddakon right across the border in Italy. I mean, his vineyards are basically a stone's throw from the Italian border. You have newcomers to get the game like Garila. I stayed up at their winery once on a press trip high above the valley. Incredible biodynamic wines and the wines keep improving with every vintage. I get more and more impressed the more I taste them. You also have some extreme wines like this Barriabella which is basically a blend. I think it's a Reboula, Lashki, Riesling, Malfacia and then some other random grape varieties just like this Batec Zarya and also this Sveci Miha from Yink. These are three of my favorite producers in Slovenia. The wines can be a little bit crazy sometimes but I really enjoy them. And then you have more classically styled wines like Tillia. Tillia is known for his Pininwars which can be a little bit bigger, a little bit more Burgundian style. They have Tannins. They really need time to soften and they need age. Other producers in Vipava that I recommend include Slavček, Lavrenčić, Vina Bizjak, Berce and Krapež. And last but not least, you have Grdiška Berda or Berda for short. This is an extension of Collio in Italy. Actually, it might be considered the other way around because there's a lot more vineyards in Grdiška Berda than there are in Collio, Italy. There's a strong Italian influence here. A lot of hilltop towns, steep vineyards. It really looks like Piedmont, Italy because you have the Alps in the background. This region has the reputation for a long time of producing some of Slovenia's best wines. Grdiška Berda has just fantastic terroir, fantastic positions for vineyards. I remember my friend who's a producer of wines in Istria Croatia said one time, you know what, those guys in Grdiška Berda have such good positions. Sometimes I think you can just throw the grapes out in the wine's great. In Grdiška Berda, you'll find a lot of the grapes that you find across the border in Friuli, Vinicea, Giulia. That means you're gonna find things like Rebola, e.g. Rebola Gialla, Friolano, which they also call Jaco or Sauvignon Nessie. You'll also find things like Picolet, Mavasia Estarska. You'll also find some international white grapes like Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay. For reds, most of the best examples are Merlot with some Cabernet Sauvignon blended into it. I actually did a blind tasting the top Slovenian red blends like up against some top flight Italian wines. I'll put that in the description box below. There is a little bit of Pinot Noir to be found in Grdiška Berda, but I think it's more of a place for Merlot. Like the rest of Primoška, orange wine, macerated wine, amber wine is really the focus here although there's a lot of classically styled whites as well. There are also some of my favorite wines in Slovenia. I mean, you have the high quality guys, Eddie and Margin Simčić, Eddie Simčić making classically barrel fermented style wines, Margin Simčić making more classical style wines, although he makes also some macerated white wines, also makes the best Pinot Noir in this part of the world for me. Guys like Šturek, another crazy guy. If you see him, he's always wearing sunglasses at wine shows. I really like his house style, big barrel fermented rich white wines, maybe just a touch of maceration. You have the Frenchman Jean-Michel Cabai making wines there. You also have interesting classically styled whites like Jakončić, another one of my favorite producers also makes outstanding Merlot. You also have real hardcore minimal intervention guides, Klenets, he also has a guest house, makes fantastic food and the wines are just really extraordinary, only macerated wines and a couple reds. Then you have the cooperative Kletberda, 480 growers that still own the winery and a lot of these guys or their families got their start in Kletberda when Slovenia was part of Exegoslavia. And of course you can't talk about Slovenian wines without mentioning Movia, the eclectic crazy wine maker, really kind of helped put Slovenian wines on the world wine map, makes some excellent wines, some crazy wines like sparkling wine named Pearl where you have to discourage it, it comes upside down. Lunar where you have to decant it and you lose this much sediment and as crazy and as loud as the guy it is, I think the wines are actually beautiful wines, especially with age. Other producers in Griskeberda I recommend are Erzitić, Bianna, Kristintić, Konstantini, Madov, Vlažić and Gaspern. You gotta know though, this is one of the more prestigious areas in Slovenia, that means the prices are a little bit higher. With so many wine growers and so many bothers in Slovenia, you're bound to find new discoveries. Like myself, there's always new wines to discover. In doing some of my articles about Slovenian wine, these are some producers that I tasted it for the first time, Patrick Simčić, a young guy, Emeryn Rye, I got his rebooting, his brand, I really like some of his Maserade wines. Making only one white, one red, really impressed more freely in style of wine than you have other crazy guys like Ronk and you're a Shtekar and Griskeberda making some interesting wines. And also, this is a new guy in the scene that I didn't really know about. Kultus, his red, white blank, really good wines. And also you have the old cooperative Vipava 1894, what's now a negotiation in the Vipava Valley. That's the cool thing about Slovenia and wine in general. There's always something new to discover. So I'd love to know, have you heard of Slovenian wines? Are you drinking Slovenian wines? What do you think of them? Let me know in the comments below. Stay tuned to our website, exoticwinetravel.com for several articles and some of my favorite Slovenian wines of the last year. And I will see you soon. Hello, thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click the bell so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page where you get some behind the scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers. Cheers.