13 editor-picked estates growing Sauvignon Blanc in Brda.
Where to taste Sauvignon Blanc in Brda: the estates that grow it, how the region expresses the grape, and how to book a visit.
Fifth-generation cellar above Medana working cru parcels the family has held since 1860. Marjan Simčič made his first vintage in 1988 and added the Opoka single-vineyard line in 2008.
Tip: The Opoka bottlings are named for the marl the vines sit on. Medana Jama is the Rebula parcel, planted between 37 and 73 years ago.
Family cellar at Vipolže that began bottling in 1989 with 3,000 bottles and now fills about 60,000. Three tiers run Klasik, Lex and Kolos, plus single-vineyard wines from Kozana and Fojana.
Tip: Ask for the Single Vineyard wines, named after the specific parcels in Kozana and Fojana rather than the grape.
Šlovrenc estate where the whites take 7 to 60 days on skins and then two to three years in 225 litre French oak. The Amfora blends Rebula, Malvazija and Sauvignonasse.
Tip: Restaurant and rooms share the estate. Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday from 18:30, with a Saturday lunch service, and booking is required.
Medana cellar that first bottled in 1989 and adopted the peacock label a year later. The range splits into Classic, Pavó, Artwork and Curioso lines across seven Classic wines.
Tip: The estate lists three Decanter World Wine Awards medals for its Chardonnay: silver for 2013 and 2011 and bronze for 2009.
The Dobrovo cooperative cellar, built in 1957 and owned outright by its members. It works 1,400 hectares of vineyard for 400 grower families and ships to 26 countries.
Tip: A self-guided tasting of 24 samples costs 20 euros and runs weekday afternoons at 13:00 or 14:30, with a guided cellar walk at 14:30.
Neblo farm run by Franc and Borut Kocijančič on seven hectares at 75 to 160 metres, mostly terraced. Output is about 50,000 bottles from two red and six white varieties.
Tip: The Brjač vineyard is picked last, in the final days of October, and feeds the Merlot Brjač bottling.
Plešivo family farm working nine hectares on both sides of the border, with spontaneous ferments and macerations and a stated focus on Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Tip: The tasting room seats twelve indoors and ten outside, so groups need to call ahead rather than turn up.
Vipolže farm that dates its winegrowing to 1923, when Valentin Keber and Andrej Benedetič bought the Brgolišče plot. Ten hectares now sit across twelve separate sites.
Tip: Cherries and olive oil are sold alongside the wine, and the tasting hall looks straight out over the hills.
Biljana family cellar keeping whites in stainless steel and reds a year in wood, plus a traditional-method sparkling called Marcus made from Chardonnay.
Tip: The tasting room seats sixty indoors and thirty outside, and the cellar also runs a shop for buying by the bottle.
Former Thurn-Taxis farm at Pristavo, now the Erzetič family's, farming 15 hectares of terraced marl. The Donna Regina traditional-method sparkling has been made since 1994.
Tip: The estate dates its winegrowing to 1767 and leans on the local trio of Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Klet Brda's historic cellar inside Dobrovo Castle, with a tasting room for groups of four to ten and four ranges poured: de Baguer, A Plus, Single Vineyard and the Virgo sparkling.
Tip: Bookings go through [email protected] and the tasting runs in Slovenian or English.
Family estate at Gonjače pouring Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and a sparkling white, with cellar tours and seven hectares of Brda fruit trees alongside the vines.
Tip: The tasting room takes thirteen indoors and fifty outside, so summer groups are seated in the open.
Small room at the Blažič farm on the border at Plešivo, pouring the spontaneously fermented and macerated whites built on Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Tip: Twelve seats indoors and ten outside, so groups have to call ahead rather than turn up.