Page 177 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 177
Getting to know wine
VTC 11: The Haloze wine route
Haloze is something special in Podravje. It is a poor area, but rich in terms of the high
quality of its wines. In spite of being wrung dry by numerous rich, mainly foreign wine
merchants from Ptuj, winegrowers in the area managed to persevere in spite of their poverty.
Haloze has steep viticultural locali- The once plush residence and
ties with marly soil. Vineyards lie restaurant with accommodation
on hills such as Gorca, Turški vrh, on Gorca above Podlehnik, 2006.
Veliki vrh, Majski vrh and Janški vrh. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Grapes of the highest quality grow
there, producing the famous Haloze
wines. I fondly remember the time
in 1948 – I was still a student – that
Masterpieces of folk and sacral art. St. Ana in Ptujska Gora, 2006. Signposts on VTC 11, 2006.
Photos: Aleš Gačnik. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
I spent in Podlehnik on a practical year-long assignment, on an estate where there was an
agricultural school. The teacher of the subject vintner’s trade and viticulture took me in
mid-August to Gorca, where Muscat grapes were planted. We climbed among the vertical
rows of vines; each one had only a couple of bunches of grapes that were already ripe. The
harvest did not take place until October, when they picked the already withered berries
that produced a concentrated must. The slope was so steep I found it difficult to walk. I
thought about how all the work there, from the digging to the spraying, was done by young
women under the age 25, as all the young men at the time had to go to work in Šterntal,
the present-day Kidričevo. How much those people had to
suffer and what a healthy lot they must be! Every night,
the teacher and I went to try wines in the cellars, where
all the barrels were still full, waiting for the company
Slovenijavino to take them away before the new harvest
and export them. I shall never forget the richness of those
wines and their varietal characteristics and my teacher,
who took me from barrel to barrel, from one variety to
another. I can still taste all the goodness of the Muscatel.
Wine cellar and wine shop, Videm, 2014.
Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
173
VTC 11: The Haloze wine route
Haloze is something special in Podravje. It is a poor area, but rich in terms of the high
quality of its wines. In spite of being wrung dry by numerous rich, mainly foreign wine
merchants from Ptuj, winegrowers in the area managed to persevere in spite of their poverty.
Haloze has steep viticultural locali- The once plush residence and
ties with marly soil. Vineyards lie restaurant with accommodation
on hills such as Gorca, Turški vrh, on Gorca above Podlehnik, 2006.
Veliki vrh, Majski vrh and Janški vrh. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Grapes of the highest quality grow
there, producing the famous Haloze
wines. I fondly remember the time
in 1948 – I was still a student – that
Masterpieces of folk and sacral art. St. Ana in Ptujska Gora, 2006. Signposts on VTC 11, 2006.
Photos: Aleš Gačnik. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
I spent in Podlehnik on a practical year-long assignment, on an estate where there was an
agricultural school. The teacher of the subject vintner’s trade and viticulture took me in
mid-August to Gorca, where Muscat grapes were planted. We climbed among the vertical
rows of vines; each one had only a couple of bunches of grapes that were already ripe. The
harvest did not take place until October, when they picked the already withered berries
that produced a concentrated must. The slope was so steep I found it difficult to walk. I
thought about how all the work there, from the digging to the spraying, was done by young
women under the age 25, as all the young men at the time had to go to work in Šterntal,
the present-day Kidričevo. How much those people had to
suffer and what a healthy lot they must be! Every night,
the teacher and I went to try wines in the cellars, where
all the barrels were still full, waiting for the company
Slovenijavino to take them away before the new harvest
and export them. I shall never forget the richness of those
wines and their varietal characteristics and my teacher,
who took me from barrel to barrel, from one variety to
another. I can still taste all the goodness of the Muscatel.
Wine cellar and wine shop, Videm, 2014.
Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
173
