Slovenian wine tasting at Tarragona Wine & Food

Tarragona Wine & Food in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood conducted a tasting of Slovenian wines on Friday, March 16. Although we missed the actual wine tasting, we decided to swing by the store the following afternoon and we were lucky! The proprietress was kind enough to let us taste the same wine selection offered at the tasting the evening before! We enjoyed a variety of wines and took home a few bottles, including two Croatian wines (Malvazija and Plavac Mali) unrelated to the tasting but equally exciting.

The following Slovenian wines were included in the tasting:

Primosic Ribolla Gialla (2005) - Ribolla Gialla is a white-wine grape, grown in Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia and in Slovenia, where it's known as Rebula. Ribolla's been grown in Friuli since the twelfth century and is thought to be a native of this region. This variety produces dry, crisp citrus-flavored wines that are medium-bodied and deeply colored.

Primosic Vitovska (2005) - Vitovska is a white-berried vine, which has always been cultivated in Friuli Venezia Giulia stretching across the coastal strip up to Istria. The name of the vine has Slovenian origin, and was often called Vitovska Garganija. The second name is not deceiving as the bunch of grapes, since the shape and size of its berry has nothing to do with the Venetian garganega. Some believe that the origin could be around the area of Vipacco, known as Vitovlie, but this vine is still found throughout the whole Karst region.

Dveri-Pax Eisenthür (2005) - Blend of 70% Pinot Gris and 30% Šipon (Furmint) from one of the most famous sites Eisenthür near Jeruzalem, in the Ljutomer-Ormož region, Slovenia. Wine is characterized by fine, creamy aromas and a perfect balance achieved through the traditional combination of these varieties.

Movia Pinot Nero (?) - Pinot Noir is known as Pinot Nero in Italian and Modri Pinot in Slovenian. The Movia estate has been making wine for more than three centuries. In 1820 it was purchased by the Kristancic family, its current owners. The vineyards are located on both sides of the Italian/Slovenian border. Interestingly, the entire estate was in Italy until the end of World War I, when 18 of the 38 acres became part of Slovenia, including the physical winery. As Alice Fiorilli writes in Expanding the Borders the political border is somewhat meaningless to people who have lived there for generations and endured savage wars for control of the region. Whether in the Collio, as the hilly region is called on the Italian side, or Brda, is it is known in Slovenia, the land is the same.