Slovenia has more than 28,000 wineries making between 80 and 90 million litres annually from the country's 22,300 hectares of vineyards. About 75% of the country's production is white wine. Almost all of the wine is consumed domestically with only 6.1 million L a year being exported—mostly to the United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and lately the Czech Republic. Most of the country's wine production falls under the classification of premium (vrhunsko) wine with less than 30% classified as basic table wine (namizno vino). Slovenia has three principal wine regions: the Drava Wine-Growing Region, the Lower Sava Wine-Growing Region, and the Littoral Wine-Growing Region.[1]
Viticulture and winemaking has existed in this region since the time of the Celts and Illyrians tribes, long before the Romans would introduce winemaking to the lands of France, Spain and Germany.[2] In 2016, a research study based on DNA profiling and historical ampelographic sources showed that two international varieties of red grape, the Blaufränkisch and the Blauer Portugieser, likely originate from the Styria region of modern Slovenia.[3]
- ^ "Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano". Opis stanja v panogi. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- ^ J. Robinson (ed) "The Oxford Companion to Wine" Third Edition pp. 632–633 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0-19-860990-6
- ^ Mauel, E.; Röckel, F; Töpfer, R. (2016). "The "missing link" 'Blaue Zimmettraube' reveals that 'Blauer Portugieser' and 'Blaufränkisch' originated in Lower Styria". Vitis. 55: 135–143. doi:10.5073/vitis.2016.55.135-143. Archived from the original on 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2016-11-25.