Page 45 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 45
The Culture of Wine Drinking
But should we reject the new winemaking knowledge? Of course not, all that is required
is to adopt it in such a way that we do not destroy everything that is good about what our
forbears created, but rather enrich the already existing wealth. We must approach the task
with love. And how is love expressed? The little prince says that it is expressed in the care,
attention and time he dedicated to a flower.
Sometimes, new fangled ideas can be introduced somewhat carelessly. Even I, when still
working at the Viticultural Cooperative in Vipava, in my youthful enthusiasm tried to
turn a wine typical of the Vipava area into one typical of the Štajerska region. No more
fermenting the pulp on the skins! Would it not have been more beneficial to listen to Matija
Vertovec, who advised the winemakers of Vipava to leave the must on the skins overnight
only, rather than a whole week, so that the wine does not develop an unpleasant taste?
The people of Vipava should retain at least some wine with a Vipava character. But that is
youthful enthusiasm for you, even though I am pleased that I was trying to improve the
quality of Vipava wines. Now, however, we are going to the other extreme, adding tannins
to wine, chemically changing it. Let us rather go for tradition, the controlled and organic
production of grapes and wine. Let a barrique be a barrique with its noble aromas and
flavours, not only the smell of oak.
Traditional wine vessels in Herberštajn’s wine cellar The modern Santomas wine cellar in Šmarje, 2008.
in Juršinci, today owned by Alojz Kavčič, 2006. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Wine gave me other pleasures, too. When I used to get home in the evening, tired, from the
Vipava wine cellar, I would sit on the wall in front of the house, listening to the crickets.
Autumnal evenings, when the cold is starting to seep in, fill you with a sense of mortality
and melancholy, heightened by the sad song of the crickets. It is like listening to Puccini’s
Madam Butterfly when Cio-Cio San is expecting her beloved, but in vain. At first the
music overwhelms you, you can still hear it, but then you become one with it and float
away on your feelings. How many times I enjoyed such a scene! Have you? Or am I being
too romantic?
Wine needs romanticism. Is not the atmosphere you get when tasting a wine in a vaulted
cellar among oak barrels the best there is? When on training in Bordeaux, I visited the
cellars of Mouton Rothschild and Lafitte Rothschild and the vintner led us to the cellar
carrying a lit candle on a long, metal candleholder. It emphasised the age and mystery of
their wine. Wine is unpredictable and mystifying in its development. When on another
41
But should we reject the new winemaking knowledge? Of course not, all that is required
is to adopt it in such a way that we do not destroy everything that is good about what our
forbears created, but rather enrich the already existing wealth. We must approach the task
with love. And how is love expressed? The little prince says that it is expressed in the care,
attention and time he dedicated to a flower.
Sometimes, new fangled ideas can be introduced somewhat carelessly. Even I, when still
working at the Viticultural Cooperative in Vipava, in my youthful enthusiasm tried to
turn a wine typical of the Vipava area into one typical of the Štajerska region. No more
fermenting the pulp on the skins! Would it not have been more beneficial to listen to Matija
Vertovec, who advised the winemakers of Vipava to leave the must on the skins overnight
only, rather than a whole week, so that the wine does not develop an unpleasant taste?
The people of Vipava should retain at least some wine with a Vipava character. But that is
youthful enthusiasm for you, even though I am pleased that I was trying to improve the
quality of Vipava wines. Now, however, we are going to the other extreme, adding tannins
to wine, chemically changing it. Let us rather go for tradition, the controlled and organic
production of grapes and wine. Let a barrique be a barrique with its noble aromas and
flavours, not only the smell of oak.
Traditional wine vessels in Herberštajn’s wine cellar The modern Santomas wine cellar in Šmarje, 2008.
in Juršinci, today owned by Alojz Kavčič, 2006. Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Photo: Aleš Gačnik.
Wine gave me other pleasures, too. When I used to get home in the evening, tired, from the
Vipava wine cellar, I would sit on the wall in front of the house, listening to the crickets.
Autumnal evenings, when the cold is starting to seep in, fill you with a sense of mortality
and melancholy, heightened by the sad song of the crickets. It is like listening to Puccini’s
Madam Butterfly when Cio-Cio San is expecting her beloved, but in vain. At first the
music overwhelms you, you can still hear it, but then you become one with it and float
away on your feelings. How many times I enjoyed such a scene! Have you? Or am I being
too romantic?
Wine needs romanticism. Is not the atmosphere you get when tasting a wine in a vaulted
cellar among oak barrels the best there is? When on training in Bordeaux, I visited the
cellars of Mouton Rothschild and Lafitte Rothschild and the vintner led us to the cellar
carrying a lit candle on a long, metal candleholder. It emphasised the age and mystery of
their wine. Wine is unpredictable and mystifying in its development. When on another
41
