Vipava 1894 is an historically important cooperative, Slovenia’s first, established in 1894. However the region is much more ancient than this, described first by Pliny the Elder and straddling an important pass on the major crossroads from the Mediterranean into the Pannonian Plains to the east.

Prior to the cooperative the region was in important source of progressive wine making in the 19th C with the Lanthieri family (local landlords) establishing a viticultural school in Vipava. The coop moved from the center of the city after the war and then built its new winery in 1957.

The winery, along with those in Ormoz and Brda are classic Tito era architectural styles based on efficient form following smart winemaking functionality. Built on several levels around a central tower wine is fed via gravity down to into tanks for eventual maturation in large barrels, the biggest barrel is a whopping 23,000 litres!

Most of Vipava’s vineyards are planted in Sauvignon Blanc and come from two main sources. The first from the warmer, more humid, clay based, valley floor (70 m) open to Friuli and steep upper, limestone-marl based slopes at 100-350 m.  

Since 2017 a young Styrian & Slovenian team has been assembled under the direction of Austrian winemaker Hannes Sabathi from Steiermark. Wines are a mix of modern and traditional, fermented either with inoculated yeasts or for Lanthieri, spontaneous natural ferments. Maturation is both in stainless steel and a variety of different sized barrels, including traditional multi-thousand litre tons. Styles, across the board, are crisp, squeaky clean and very good value.

The Vipava Valley has two autochthonous grapes, Pinella and Zelan, both of which are well represented as single varieties and in blends in Vipava 1894’s range. 

View Vipava 1894 wine notes here