Chasing Wine

The Rise of Orange Wines

Movia and the quest to make what’s old new again In the tranquil hills of Slovenia’s Goriška Brda of the Primorska wine region, a quiet revolution has taken root. Together with its neighbor, the Collio Goriziano of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy, Brda is credited with sparking interest in orange wines and establishing the style as…

Slovenia’s Wine Frontier

On the western front with Ščurek It started with a single hectare. The family records for Ščurek winery show that the grandfather of founder Stojan cultivated one hectare of vines, producing 50 hectoliters of wine, a slice alongside broader agricultural efforts. In 1989, the first bottling under the Ščurek label took place with Stojan pooling…

Back from the Brink

Schioppettino’s revival Ronchi di Cialla It takes a certain knack to find ways to become lost while traveling within a subsection of a region that in its entirety is roughly two-thirds the size of Connecticut. Yet, in looking for Ronchi di Cialla, in the town of Rosazzo of the Gorizia province in Friuli, the turn…

Secrets of the Vine

The 120-year-old picolit presiding over Conte d’Attemis Maniago On an estate that stretches back a near half-millennium, it seems appropriate that the grande dame of the vineyard is a 120-year-old picolit vine. Used to make dessert wine, which was possibly enjoyed during Roman times and was once the toast of Europe’s 18th century courts, picolit…

A Snapshot in Time

The keeping of family, local history at Villa Rubini To pull up to Villa Rubini is to visit a vineyard frozen in a moment in time. Surrounded by grounds that date back to the 1500s, the still-standing Venetian villa was built in 1720 and has housed the Rubini family for more than 200 years. Patriarch…