Vitovska

We had a really difficult trip today. After driving nearly three hours to get from Paso Robles to San Francisco, we flew through Atlanta and Paris to get to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. From there is what nearly a two hour drive mostly westward into the Gorizia Hills and the tiny municipality of Brda, right on the border of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. We're here to drink wine from a grape you've likely never encountered, Vitofska, sometimes known as Vitovska Grganja, or just as Garganja.

Vitovska is a hybrid of a variant of Prosecco and Malvasia. It's a white grape grown almost exclusively in this little corner of the world in northeastern Italy and far western Slovenia. Since we have spent a lot of time in Italy, we decided to visit Slovenia.

Brda sits on the Soca River that forms the natural border of Slovenia with Italy. While itself sitting in a bit of a valley, Brda is bordered on the north by Korada Hill at about 810m/2660ft and to the east by Sabotin Hill at 610m/2000ft. The people in Brda speak an incomprehensible (at least to me) dialect of Slovenian (therefore having a severe vowel deficiency) and Venetian Italian. The weather here is quite Mediterranean as the surrounding hills protect it from the strong Bora winds that afflict much of the rest of the Slovene Littoral.

The soil here is quite minerally with lots of calcium. The porous, gravelly base allows for the natural ability of the grapevines to seek water.

The winemakers of the area tend to use what is known as an orange wine technique, not surprisingly producing a wine with orange hues. In a technique usually reserved for red wines, the grapes are fermented on must, primarily the skins of the grapes.

The resultant wine brings us plenty of dried fruit, tea leaves, sweet spices, mineral notes, and because of the orange wine process just a bit of tannin. Because of that tannin, the Vitovska does have the ability to age and when young will benefit from decanting.

Pair Vitovska local seafood or for an unusual twist, consider it with moderately spicy east Asian food. But, whatever you pair it with, it will likely be your only opportunity as you can't likely find Vitovska at yoru local wine shop.




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