The grape harvest is turning into the second half; white sorts in the Primorje region have already been stored in vine cellars, only red sorts are still waiting their turn. The pressing of the most special red grapes however is already over in the lower Vipava valley, in Dornberk and Zalošče. The grapes have been picked from the 25 descendants of the oldest vine in the world, the 'Bleu de Cologne' ("modra kavčina" or “stara žametovka”) from the Maribor Lent.

The Styria vine bore well in the Vipava valley
This year the Styria vine bore very well in the Vipava valley. The Bleu de Cologne, entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine due to its confirmed age of more than 400 years, and still bearing noble fruit, is obviously comfortable in the Vipava valley soil. Vine shoots were planted almost two decades ago in Zalošče, Dornberk and neighbouring villages, where the Vipava vintners established the Mladovita association, an association of off-spring of the old vine friends. Thus the harvest of the off-spring of the oldest vine is a venerable event, every year also marked by the presence of the Bled castle printer, the keeper of the chronicles of the oldest 'žametovka' sort.

The castle printer records every vine
Janez Rozman, the Bled castle printer, and his crew every year participate at this very special Styria-Vipava event in Zalošče: "The point is in socializing and preserving the memory of our Slovenian record vine – actually, the world record holder. In order to keep everything for our descendants, we weigh the produce of each off-spring of the oldest vine, and write it down. Every vintner gets a special document." Davorin Slejko, vine grower and vintner from Zalošče, was one of the first to plant an off-spring of the almost half a millennium old vine: "Our Mladovita association now numbers 25 members; we all grow the descendants of the Lent vine. We all planted the vines in a special place at home; every year we have the harvest together, weigh produce at each of the winegrowers, and then press it together in Zalošče."

150 bottles of Mladovita
The Vipava must from 'modra kavčina' sort is already stored in the cellar. Last year's produce from the oldest vine harvested in the Vipava valley has already matured in 150 bottles. Alojz Slavko Jenuš, the guardian of the old vine, who carefully supervised the harvest, is very pleased with the idea of spreading the oldest vine all over Slovenia. "I am very proud that the Vipava vintners already have the vine made of grapes from the oldest vine, the Mladovita wine. In two or three years we will already have a cooperative. In ten we will have a company! That's the purpose of the old vine – to bind people." And it is true: for two decades the four-hundred-years-old vine has been binding people from Styria and people from Primorje!

This year the vine is excellent
All the Slovenian winegrowers and vintners are expecting an excellent year. The quantity should exceed the last year's by one quarter (last year the Slovenian wine cellars produced 64 million litres of wine, usually the quantity is up to 90 million litres. This year's quality will be above average. The cooperative winegrowers thus expect a higher price for grapes – especially after the prices have been falling in the last years, and payments were late. In the Vipava valley and Goriška brda the promised prices are higher by one fifth. The payments however depend mostly on the sale of wine.

Mojca Dumančič, TV Slovenija
Foto: Dušan Bremec
Translated by G. K.