Čarga was established in 1767 and has been continuously in family hands since, with Martin Erzetic the current generation of vignerons. He holds the honor of being chosen Slovenia’s “Young Wine Maker of the Year” for two years running. The winery is kitted out with a progressive mix of stainless steel, concrete tanks and 2000 litre barrels and viticulture is sustainably ‘integrated’ with a strong emphasis on organic production.  

The estate has 15 hectares in vines, half of which are on hills elevated 100-350m above the valley floor. The upper vineyards are exposed whereas vineyards in the valley’s relatively narrow floor below are naturally shaded by the valley’s near vertical slopes. Soils vary between sandstone and a mixture of blue/orange stones on upper slopes, whereas the lower vineyard is planted alongside a stream that has created gravel, clay and sandy-marl over time. The latter single vineyard, planted primarily in Sauvignon Blanc, catches late morning sun and early sunset delaying the growing season’s start, eventually harvesting 10 days later than the vineyards above. This naturally lowers production between 1-2kg per plant.

Although Brda is only 25km from the sea, there is a wall of mountains above Corman reducing the Mediterranean influence. Between the cool night breezes flowing off the Alps and planting on the floor of tightly walled valleys it is possible to retain much higher levels of natural acidity and slow maturation than one would expect.

Still, global warming is reducing that advantage. Martin says the tricky part about growing Sauvignon is getting good fruit. Pruning to avoid disease is more difficult because there are no cold, dry pruning periods now. The winter of 2019-20 was especially mild and dangerous for those reasons.

Rebula is grown on the most exposed parts of vineyards where lower fertility and less water reduces yields to 2kg per vine, which is very low for Rebula. It is the last harvested grape, so is often planted alongside Cabernet Sauvignon.

Čarga bottles a large variety of whites and reds. I was told their Merlot based wines were instrumental in gaining Martin’s ’Young Winemaker’ prize. That said, their Sauvignon is a pretty damn fine wine as well. 

View Carga wine notes here