Published: Feb. 10, 2017, 11:53 a.m.
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Slovenia is small but it\'s up and coming! It\'s a fascinating place with a long winemaking tradition that should pique your interest.
Photo: Slovenian Tourist Board
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Slovenia\'s Wine Stats:
- Population of two million people, who drink a LOT:\\xa05th 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\\xa0
- Some using ancient techniques (clay amphorae) to give\\xa0the 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\\xa0WWII, co-ops controlled nearly all of the region\'s wine production:\\xa0Sucky bulk wine production with a few\\xa0small 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\\xa0to declare independence from Yugoslavia
- Dictatorship/Socialism/Communism separated countries from centuries of winemaking traditions but they are catching up now
Photo: Slovenian Tourist Board
Geography\\xa0
- At crossroad of eastern and central Europe bordered by Hungary, Italy, Croatia, and Austria\\xa0
- Important Rivers: Drava and Sava connect to the Danube
- Dynamic regions on borders
Map: Think Slovenia
3 Main Regions
- Primorska:\\xa0
- Near Italian region of Fruili Venezia Giulia, high quality whites and reds
- Sub regions: Vipava Valley,\\xa0Goriska 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
Photo: Slovenian Tourist Board
- Drava (Podravje)\\xa0
- 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)\\xa0
- 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
Photo: Slovenian Tourist Board
Hope you enjoy this off-the-beaten trail podcast.\\xa0
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