Sutor Wines from Slovenia
I met Primoz Lavrencic last spring at Vinitaly. I had already tasted his wines… was already a fan, and eager to meet this ‘character’ everyone spoke so highly about. Unfortunately, being a typical American, I barely knew exactly where Slovenia was. I quickly googled ‘Slovenia’ feeling embarrassed about my geographical ignorance. Low and behold, it is right across the boarder from one of Italy’s most important wine making regions; Friuli-Venezia Giulia… makes sense!
 I had never before tasted wines from Slovenia – and I was entirely intrigued and excited about the quality and integrity of these wines, and pleasantly surprised as admittedly I nosed my first glass of Slovenian wine with open minded hesitation (I had heard nothing but fantastic feedback about these wines… but was nonetheless somewhat dubious).
Primoz waltzed up to the stand the first day of Vinitaly, confident, with a huge smile – and ready to have fun. Throughout the week I got to know Primoz and his wines very well, and he was enthusiastic and on board with my ‘Indie Wines’ project, and I could not be more honored to have the Sutor wines as part of the ‘Indie’ collection, (Sutor means ‘shoemaker’ and is the name of the farm and their label, as it is said there was once a shoemaker’s workshop on the wine cultivating farm).
 I met Primoz for the second time when I visited him two weeks ago in Slovenia. I needed to see and experience this new (for me at least) frontier with my own eyes. Myself and a few other producers/friends from Piedmont met Primoz at a local bar because it apparently had better breakfast than the hotel we were staying at offered, ‘don’t eat at the hotel,’ he commanded, ‘much better next store’. He walked in about 15 minutes after we had arrived, and he had barely hit the seat when the waiter arrived already placing a coffee, small orange juice and side of milk down in front of him. I commented on his ‘celebrity-VIP’ status, and he just grinned. A Barolo producer and friend that was with our group turned to me and said matter of factly, “Primoz is the Gaja of Slovenia – what do you expect!” For the rest of the day we spent with Primoz, this was made quite clear by the respect and attention paid to him by his colleagues, friends and clients. Although the region has been making wine for more than 1500 years, Primoz is a local hero for the pioneering work he is doing in the wine world, combining the centuries old traditions of his family with modern techniques, helping to put this special and talented region on the international radar. Primoz has been awarded many local, as well as international accolades – and he is a talent and force that is already making history.
The Sutor farm is located in Podraga, only 30 minutes from the Italian border. The people were incredible, warm and welcoming, and eager to share their wines, local food products – and a laugh. In fact, I can’t wait to go back for a longer stay to explore more of this somewhat un-discovered territory. Besides Primoz and his estate we visited another bio-dynamic winemaker, a local goat cheese farm with INCREDIBLE cheeses (unable to resist I left 65 Euros poorer, but arms laden with delicious cheese to bring back and share with my friends in Piedmont) . Not only an emerging region for wine, the culinary genius is also to be recognized. We enjoyed two meals at local restaurants that have left a permanent stamp in my mental culinary catalog!
Without further adieu here is some of the more ‘technical’ information on the wines and terroir!
Buy Now About the Wines…
2007 Burja
The name ‘Burja’ comes from the word for the northern to north-eastern katabatic wind in the region that can reach up to speeds of 220 kilometers/hr. These winds have influenced the region's traditional lifestyle and architecture.
In the time of Austro-Hungarian Empire ‘Burja’ was one of the most appreciated wines. It was always made from the local varieties (Ribolla, Malvasia, Italian Riesling, Zelen and Pinela).
 The Sutor version is a white blend made exclusively from equal parts of three local varieties; Ribolla, Malvasia Istriana, and Italian Riesling. There is 15% of the grape skins in the must to extract aromatic compounds in berry skin, and to start fermentation without adding commercial – selection yeasts. For Primoz, beside climate and soil, micro flora is the expression of the terroir. Burja is aged for one year in 2.000 L oak casks.
Primoz recommends the following with his Burja; Oriental food, fish, white meat, veal, rice with seafood, poultry, pasta, or a perfect wine aperitif! 2007 Pinot Noir Primoz started to plant Pinot Noir in the beginning of the nineties after he read in a few sources that Pinot Noir had existed in the region before the First World War. He planted the variety because of his high admiration of Burgundy combined with the fact that they had already found great success with Chardonnay on the estate (coming soon – currently sold out)!! In his words, “It is not a copy of Burgundy, with all our wines I am trying to express our climate, soil, tradition, microflora… so the variety is just a vector of this information.”
The vines are Burgundy clones, planted in 1999 grafted onto the roots of 20 year old Cabernet Sauvignon vines. The wine then stays on the lees for about a year in large oak casks (20% new), then another 6 months after racking. Primoz recommends veal, duck breast, lamb, red meat, and cheese with his Pinot.
To sum it all up….
Primoz, our ‘Slovenian Gaja’, has put not only the country’s century’s old traditional wine ‘Burja’ back on the shelves of restaurants and wine shops, giving it a much deserved ‘re-birth but he has also given life to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc that are internationally recognized, putting Slovenia on the world map for wine regions to take serious notice of.
Primoz is selling his wines all over Europe, and in fact has sold out of all of his current vintages – we were lucky to get what we could until next spring when the newest vintages are released.
Just like Primoz, these wines are full of confidence, bright personality and have a prosperous future ahead!
His website: http://www.sutor.si/winefarm.htm
Enjoy!
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