Page 57 - Terčelj, Dušan. 2015. The Culture of Wine in Slovenia. Edited by Aleš Gačnik. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 57
The Culture of Wine Drinking
A vine-dresser’s cottage in Semič in Bela Trenching up a vineyard. Bodislavci, 1938. Reproduction from the
Krajina, 1925. Photo: Stanko Vurnik, the archive of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
archive of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
Winegrowers with arable land managed to keep their vineyards. After the destruction of
vineyards by vine-louse, rich owners of the best winegrowing positions managed to renew
their vineyards with the best varieties. Vine-dressers and farmers who owned low-lying land
planted hybrid varieties, in particular Šmarnica, which did not need spraying. Drinking
this wine, which poor peasants gave even to their children, frequently turned to excess.
In Carniola, most winegrowers were able to hold onto their vineyards, as they had arable
land. However, in Lower Carniola and in White Carniola it was harder to sell wine as the
areas were very poor. Fran Levstik in his Popotovanje od Litije do Čateža (A Journey
from Litija to Čatež) said: “Wine rules in our lands, we look after it better than any other
crop.” He goes on to say: “A Lower Carniolan never drinks it as gladly as in the autumn,
when he does not feel sorry for the wine. Everyone is in good spirits then, be they big or
small, young or old. Those who do not have a vineyard of their own go from one friend
to another. This lasts almost until Christmas. Only when barrels start to sing do people
become more parsimonious with wine.”15 The writer Ivan Trdina16, when describing the
customs of the inhabitants of Lower Carniola and White Carniola, mentions the custom of
drinking wine in the autumn, from St. Martin’s Day until Christmas. Often there was a lack
of wine for heavy labour in spring and early autumn. The inhabitants of White Carniola
were more practical, establishing neighbourhood cellars in villages. The ethnologist Andrej
Dular writes: “Neighbourhoods were a special form of association of villagers in their com-
munity. Particularly where there were vineyards, they had a joint cellar, called a village or
church cellar. It served as a kind of borrowing shop for wine and grains under the village
administration, the members of which were usually all the householders in the village. The
15 Levstik, 1978, p.48
16 Trdina, 1958, p.14
53
A vine-dresser’s cottage in Semič in Bela Trenching up a vineyard. Bodislavci, 1938. Reproduction from the
Krajina, 1925. Photo: Stanko Vurnik, the archive of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
archive of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
Winegrowers with arable land managed to keep their vineyards. After the destruction of
vineyards by vine-louse, rich owners of the best winegrowing positions managed to renew
their vineyards with the best varieties. Vine-dressers and farmers who owned low-lying land
planted hybrid varieties, in particular Šmarnica, which did not need spraying. Drinking
this wine, which poor peasants gave even to their children, frequently turned to excess.
In Carniola, most winegrowers were able to hold onto their vineyards, as they had arable
land. However, in Lower Carniola and in White Carniola it was harder to sell wine as the
areas were very poor. Fran Levstik in his Popotovanje od Litije do Čateža (A Journey
from Litija to Čatež) said: “Wine rules in our lands, we look after it better than any other
crop.” He goes on to say: “A Lower Carniolan never drinks it as gladly as in the autumn,
when he does not feel sorry for the wine. Everyone is in good spirits then, be they big or
small, young or old. Those who do not have a vineyard of their own go from one friend
to another. This lasts almost until Christmas. Only when barrels start to sing do people
become more parsimonious with wine.”15 The writer Ivan Trdina16, when describing the
customs of the inhabitants of Lower Carniola and White Carniola, mentions the custom of
drinking wine in the autumn, from St. Martin’s Day until Christmas. Often there was a lack
of wine for heavy labour in spring and early autumn. The inhabitants of White Carniola
were more practical, establishing neighbourhood cellars in villages. The ethnologist Andrej
Dular writes: “Neighbourhoods were a special form of association of villagers in their com-
munity. Particularly where there were vineyards, they had a joint cellar, called a village or
church cellar. It served as a kind of borrowing shop for wine and grains under the village
administration, the members of which were usually all the householders in the village. The
15 Levstik, 1978, p.48
16 Trdina, 1958, p.14
53
