Page 53 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 53
The Culture of Wine Drinking
were introduced and it was up to the landlords with whom they concluded these contracts.
Usually, peasants gave half of their produce to the land owner. Thus instead of a legally
enforced tie to the land, an economic force was now used (resulting in famines). This form
of kolonat developed in Istra under the influence of the coastal towns and in the Goriška
Brda Hills and around Gorizia under Venetian influence. This system of relations persevered
in the Brda until 1945.
Šmartno in the Brda, 2006.
Photo: Staša Cafuta.
The significance of wine in the Middle Ages
and how it was consumed
Two writers from this time are particularly significant for Slovenia: Paolo Santonino and
Janez Vajkard Valvasor, who described in detail the customs not only of the nobility, but
also of simple people and serfs. Paolo Santonino was the secretary to the patriarch’s vicar
in Aquilea, Bishop Carli. Between 1485 and 1487, he accompanied the vicar on his visits to
his estates and parishes around Carinthia and Styria. In his diary he described numerous
local customs, particularly culinary ones associated with both aristocratic and peasant
homes. I would like to cite a few paragraphs from these diaries.
In the Drava Valley in Carinthia “we stopped at a public tavern, where they served us seven
courses. One consisted of very sweet pears, which were first boiled, then arranged in a dish
and then had melted butter with semi-sweet spices poured over them. There was no shortage
of fish, expensive and tasty, fried in oil or boiled. In addition, they served us three varieties
of wine in silver goblets: to begin with there was the excellent Malvasia, followed by a Friuli
wine, and with dessert there was the sweet and very drinkable Rebula.”7
A note in relation to the Zilja Valley (Gailtal in Austria): “From the parish of St. Daniel along
the Gailtal down to Villach, Germans are mixed with Slovenes and both nations speak
both languages. It is quite astonishing how much time they have for feasts and drinking,
they go on night and day.”8
7 Santonino, 1991, p. 12
8 Santonino, 1991, p.37
49
were introduced and it was up to the landlords with whom they concluded these contracts.
Usually, peasants gave half of their produce to the land owner. Thus instead of a legally
enforced tie to the land, an economic force was now used (resulting in famines). This form
of kolonat developed in Istra under the influence of the coastal towns and in the Goriška
Brda Hills and around Gorizia under Venetian influence. This system of relations persevered
in the Brda until 1945.
Šmartno in the Brda, 2006.
Photo: Staša Cafuta.
The significance of wine in the Middle Ages
and how it was consumed
Two writers from this time are particularly significant for Slovenia: Paolo Santonino and
Janez Vajkard Valvasor, who described in detail the customs not only of the nobility, but
also of simple people and serfs. Paolo Santonino was the secretary to the patriarch’s vicar
in Aquilea, Bishop Carli. Between 1485 and 1487, he accompanied the vicar on his visits to
his estates and parishes around Carinthia and Styria. In his diary he described numerous
local customs, particularly culinary ones associated with both aristocratic and peasant
homes. I would like to cite a few paragraphs from these diaries.
In the Drava Valley in Carinthia “we stopped at a public tavern, where they served us seven
courses. One consisted of very sweet pears, which were first boiled, then arranged in a dish
and then had melted butter with semi-sweet spices poured over them. There was no shortage
of fish, expensive and tasty, fried in oil or boiled. In addition, they served us three varieties
of wine in silver goblets: to begin with there was the excellent Malvasia, followed by a Friuli
wine, and with dessert there was the sweet and very drinkable Rebula.”7
A note in relation to the Zilja Valley (Gailtal in Austria): “From the parish of St. Daniel along
the Gailtal down to Villach, Germans are mixed with Slovenes and both nations speak
both languages. It is quite astonishing how much time they have for feasts and drinking,
they go on night and day.”8
7 Santonino, 1991, p. 12
8 Santonino, 1991, p.37
49
