Page 205 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 205
The wine trade and catering
table occasion: I have been given the odd archive wine in Slovene cellars, but I was never
able to choose one myself, let alone rummage around an archive. I have to thank Stanko
Čurin from Kog, who I have been visiting every season for years, for giving me a chance to
taste with him his “predicate” wines to see how they are maturing. This, too, was a unique
experience for me.
Wine fairs
Dukes of the land were entrusted with the duty of giving towns their market rights. They
also determined the dates – annual or weekly – when fairs were held in specific places and
where buying and selling could be done. These places were usually along transport routes.
Some larger towns, such as Ljubljana, Maribor and Ptuj had special rights. There were no
true wine fairs yet, but these towns had a well-developed wine trade. In Ljubljana, wine
was traded on Breg and in Maribor on Lent.
In the Middle Ages, Ljubljana was a true town of the vine and wine. Wine was brought
in from Primorska and the Ljubljana merchants then sold it on to the north, i.e. Austrian
lands and Bavaria. Maribor and Ptuj exported wine there, too, as Carniola prohibited the
trade in Styrian wines. Lower Carniola and White Carniola sold their wines to the Military
Krajina or southern borderland area and only at the start of the Modern Age to Ljubljana. By
today’s standards, the wine trade was very badly developed until the 18th century and only
the rich could afford foreign wines. It was not until after
the construction of roads and the building of the railway
in the 19th century that the wine trade began to flourish. In
the late 19th century, lands and regions started organising
wine exhibitions and fairs so that wine merchants and
victuallers could learn about different wines. This is when
the first competition, almost a struggle for a share of the
market, appeared.
Grape pressing in the cellar of the Until the end of World War Two, the management of the Ptuj Wine Cellar was
important wine merchant and hotel owner in the hands of the company Vinogradniške posesti and of the Josip Ornig
Osterberger in Ptuj, the first quarter of the (JO) Wine Cellar, founded in 1853. Only one barrel (Ruth Ornig) has been
20th century, Dolena in Haloze. The photo preserved. The wedding photograph of the wine merchant, the Ptuj mayor and
library of the Ptuj Regional Museum. visionary Josef Ornig (1894-1917), 1886, 2005. Source: Historical archive in
Ptuj, photo: Aleš Gačnik.
201
table occasion: I have been given the odd archive wine in Slovene cellars, but I was never
able to choose one myself, let alone rummage around an archive. I have to thank Stanko
Čurin from Kog, who I have been visiting every season for years, for giving me a chance to
taste with him his “predicate” wines to see how they are maturing. This, too, was a unique
experience for me.
Wine fairs
Dukes of the land were entrusted with the duty of giving towns their market rights. They
also determined the dates – annual or weekly – when fairs were held in specific places and
where buying and selling could be done. These places were usually along transport routes.
Some larger towns, such as Ljubljana, Maribor and Ptuj had special rights. There were no
true wine fairs yet, but these towns had a well-developed wine trade. In Ljubljana, wine
was traded on Breg and in Maribor on Lent.
In the Middle Ages, Ljubljana was a true town of the vine and wine. Wine was brought
in from Primorska and the Ljubljana merchants then sold it on to the north, i.e. Austrian
lands and Bavaria. Maribor and Ptuj exported wine there, too, as Carniola prohibited the
trade in Styrian wines. Lower Carniola and White Carniola sold their wines to the Military
Krajina or southern borderland area and only at the start of the Modern Age to Ljubljana. By
today’s standards, the wine trade was very badly developed until the 18th century and only
the rich could afford foreign wines. It was not until after
the construction of roads and the building of the railway
in the 19th century that the wine trade began to flourish. In
the late 19th century, lands and regions started organising
wine exhibitions and fairs so that wine merchants and
victuallers could learn about different wines. This is when
the first competition, almost a struggle for a share of the
market, appeared.
Grape pressing in the cellar of the Until the end of World War Two, the management of the Ptuj Wine Cellar was
important wine merchant and hotel owner in the hands of the company Vinogradniške posesti and of the Josip Ornig
Osterberger in Ptuj, the first quarter of the (JO) Wine Cellar, founded in 1853. Only one barrel (Ruth Ornig) has been
20th century, Dolena in Haloze. The photo preserved. The wedding photograph of the wine merchant, the Ptuj mayor and
library of the Ptuj Regional Museum. visionary Josef Ornig (1894-1917), 1886, 2005. Source: Historical archive in
Ptuj, photo: Aleš Gačnik.
201
