The Goriška Brda wine cellar has decided to go ahead with an interesting business model: It has invited its business partners into its vineyards. Those include distributors for the U.S market, where it exports more than one million bottles of top quality wine a year, as well as wine merchants from Bosnia and Poland.

The majority of U.S. distributors admitted that it was their first time in a vineyard. They all agreed that after the experience of picking grapes they will be more respectful towards all the wine they sell across the ocean. Dan Glysky, who markets wine from the Brda region in the state of Michigan, is visibly tired but also pleased after the harvesting in Dolnje Cerovo: "From now on I will surely consume wine in a more respectful way. And if the wine convinces us, it will be much easier for us to convince our clients. Only now do we realize that hard work put into vineyards, and the huge role farmers and winegrowers play in the whole chain of wine."

Brda winemaking cooperatives with open arms
The American and Bosnian wine distributors were hosted by a member of a cooperative from the Kojsko cellar, Aleks Šviligoj, who has vineyards in Dolnje Cerovo. They harvested the sauvignon sort which is extremely sweet but also one of the most strenuous to pick, as the grapes hide behind the leaves. Šviligoj welcomed his harvesters, although not the most skilful, with open arms:"What’s important is to have will. And also for them to know to appreciate our work and effort, and to know how to present to our buyers the journey from the vineyard to the bottle. It is important for them to realize that it's not all industry, but that there’s a lot of work with your hands."

Americans already on par with the French as wine connoisseurs
Interestingly, the Americans are becoming increasingly more expert in wine and are even surpassing the French as wine connoisseurs. U.S. wine consumption has been on the rise in the last couple of years. Three years ago the total wine consumption in America was bigger than in the traditional homeland of wine connoisseurs, France. The total consumption of wine in the U.S. stands at 31 million hectoliters, while in France it is 27,2 million hectoliters. In third place is Italy with 20,5 million hectoliters of wine. The use of wine in America has doubled in the last couple of decades. One person in the U.S. consumes an average of 10,6 liters. Last year the U.S. imported around 4,8 billion euros worth of wine, making them the biggest wine importer in the world. And in that sea of wine one can also find precious drops coming from the Brda winemaking cooperative.

Mojca Dumančič; translated by K. J.