Green Slovenia has 7 completely different wine regions, each producing unique wines that can only be found here in the entire world..

You might have romantic notions of just rolling up at a vineyard, where the owners will be sat on a toadstool outside, waving passionately with one hand, wine glasses in the other, just waiting for you to decide to turn up and taste a bit of wine..

Maybe you will see a brown sign for "Vinska Cesta" (wine road) and if you can work out what that means, you might have a go at driving along one of these roads, quite rightly expecting to stop off at one of hundreds of choices to taste some wine..

But we know from our own failed experiences on the Wine roads and those of our guests that it is very unlikely to work out that way at all folks!

Vista over vineyards, the coastal hinterland and Koper port..

You might be lucky, but we would guess you have such little time scheduled here in Green Slovenia to spend searching around..

But it doesn't mean for one second that Slovenia is not packed with thousands of friendly vineyards with dozens of unique wines you simply cannot get anywhere else.. 

And it doesn't mean that Slovenian wine is not amazing or that you should give up on wine tasting..

Lollipop trees next to the lovely church tower..

But, in our humble opinion and experience it does mean you do have to be a little bit organised, plan your visit a tincy wincy bit more ahead than 2 hours before and consult with a Local person to hunt down the very best vineyard for you!

And you really should try as many different Slovenian wines as you can get your hands on.. Cos let's face it, you will NOT be able to find any of the best Slovenian ones at home!

You will NOT have a hope of getting any kind of understanding about Slovenian wine if you buy a bottle from the Supermarket..

Indeed, it would also be totally unforgiveabubble to buy your bottle of Slovenian wine at a supermarket, when for just a little bit of effort and know how a visit to a local vineyard is far superior both in terms of quality AND price, but even more importantly in terms of your holiday EXPERIENCE..

Meeting the people who made your wine, seeing where the grapes grow and discovering a little piece of Green paradise in the most beautiful country in Europe! Totally unbeatable..

there are lots of little spaces to sit and enjoy the view..

There are lots and lots of wine growers here who would be delighted to meet you, show you around their place and take great pride and passion explaining all about their wines to you and enjoy seeing you taste it..

We have spent our ten years here so far getting to know some of these lovely people and stocking our wine cellar with their bottles.

So our simple advice to you getting to meet some of these wine people is to make sure they are recommended by a local and PHONE WELL AHEAD to arrange your visit!

the Wine Fountain has the feel of a mini holiday village..

It couldn't be simpler than that.. But of course tourism doesn't always quite work that way, cos when you arrive here, you will be shocked at how many things there are to do and see in Green Slovenia and will have so little time to choose and fit everything in that it will come as no surprise that you want to go wine tasting either now or tomorrow!

And if you promise not to go and buy a bottle from the supermarket, we will explain a few more little tips to help you get to taste some unique local wine, including the ingenious idea for a "wine fountain", where you can just rock up whenever you want and try a few glasses poured from a tap in a wall!

Malvazija and Refosk are the unique Slovenian wines here and ther eis also a sweet Refosk and local Chardonnay on offer..

So clear your palette, grab a slice of cheese and some air dried Karst proscuitto, cos we are gonna go wine tasting!

Ask a Local..

We have made it our mission to know a good wine producer in every nook & cranny of every Slovenian wine region, where our guests can go and meet the hands that made their wine.. Wine tasting doesn't get any better than that!

We are happy to connect our guests with the right host in the right wine region, depending on where their Green adventures will take them..

And generally, if you were to ask ten Slovenians where to get the best wine from you would probably get 11 different opinions.. Each one would be a good bet too.. So just ask them if their favourite vineyard accepts visits and the owners speak English, or your language and give them a ring! Sounds like the start of another excellent Green Slovenian adventure! 

the car park is just here to the right and head towards St Anton to explore more secrets of the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland..

At a Local Restaurant..

You certainly cannot sit at a restaurant by the river in Ljubljana and ask your waiter where the wine comes from to have him or her simply point in one direction and say, just over that hill.. BUT you can do this in any of the Seven Green Slovenian wine regions! 

How special is that.. So why not give it a go!

There are so many good local restaurants in the different wine regions here where you can even try a different local wine with each course if you ask.. AND the staff will usually be able to recommend which wine to try and tell you more about each glass too.

There is a cluster of fantastic restaurants just 20 minutes around the corner from the Lodge in the Vipava Wine Valley for example, where you can do just that!

You really DO NOT have to go to the the best Michelin starred or poshest restaurant to meet a local restauranteur passionate about local wine..

Ask at the Local TIC (Tourist Info Centre)..

Most employees, but not all at the local TIC, know lots about their mini region, but if they just hand you a local map and say "go taste wine" it is clear they do not know much and are just there for any summer job they can get..

But there are lots of excellent people working in the local TICs in the various wine regions who could really help you a lot to find one of those elusive vineyards where you could go tasting!

Probably the best organised we have seen for the 7 wine regions for this is the BRDA or Goricia Hills wine region, 50 minutes from the Lodge..

slightly cheesy structure, but great view..

If you go to the TIC in the pretty medieval hill top village of Smarje for example, you will get a detailed list of local BRDA winegrowers who really want to meet and host you with phone numbers, days when they are open and a little map to show where they are..

The two unique Slovenian wines you might try in BRDA will be Rebula and Tokaj (locally called Sauvignonasse), which was brought here from Hungary several centuries ago and is now established in the Gorica Hills NOT as a sweet wine like in Hungary, but as a lovely dry white wine!

Push the lovely TIC employees buttons a bit to express which one on their list is their personal favourite and you have hit the jackpot for the day!

But we should repeat our advice from above that the earlier ahead you can arrange your tasting, the better the whole experience will probably be!

Get your wine at the wine fountain and pick up your Slovenian Tapas at the big wine barrel on the right..

the Wine Fountain at Marezige..

So we finally get to the title of this article and another fantastic option to go explore and taste a bit of local wine!

The Slovenian Coast is quite short in KM, but when you actually go there it is full of different little seaside towns, villages and secret bays to go swim and relax.. 

Behind this is a huge expanse of Green Mediterranean Coastal Hinterland packed with olive groves, vineyards and pretty little hill top villages for you to explore too!

One of the best views of this explosion of Mediterranean Green can be seen from the hills high above Koper, the largest coastal town, just a 45 min drive from the Lodge direct to the little village of Marezige..

These small hill top Coastal Hinterland villages are like no other regions in Green Slovenia.. completely different..

Just as you drive past the wine village, there is a little car park off to the right, just when you see the pretty church.. So park up and have a glass of unique local wine direct from the Wine Fountain, sat in a deck chair, looking over a large chunk of Slovenia's coastline and bits of Italy too!

This coastal wine region is called VinaKoper and the two specaial unique Slovenian wines it mainly produces are Malvazija and Refosk..

Refosk is a red wine grown from exactly the same grapes that produce the unique Teran wine grown in the Red Karst, just 30km from the coast (and 25 mins from the Lodge), still Mediterranean, but with completely different growing conditions..

Come here to the shop to buy your tokens and place your order..

So this means the very same Slovenian grape produces two different wines in two different wine regions just 30km apart! But just like Teran wine, Refosk is the perfect companion for a plate of proscuitto and cheese

Malvazija is a fresh, dry, fruity white wine, absolutely perfectly suited to the warm climate here by the coast and is chosen all around Green Slovenia to go with meals..

All you need to do to try these two wines, a sweet version of the Refosk and a Slovenian Chardonnay is buy some tokens from the wine fountain shop, pop a token into the slot at the wine fountain and hold your glass under the tap!

There are a few different packages you can buy, depending on how many glasses you want and you also get to keep your wine glass as a souvenir!

We chose the Slovenian Tapas option to accompany our wine tasting..

We decided to also have some Slovenian Tapas with our package, so you just take your voucher to the Tapas staion, built inside a larger than life wine barrel, where your Tapas is stacked onto a wooden board in front of you.

The wine fountain complex has the feeling of a little holiday village, with lots of places to sit and enjoy the fabulous view over the Coastal Hinterland down to Koper and the blue Adriatic sea.

It is up to you to find your preferred bench, deckchair or terrace to sit on and enjoy that view and then just use up your tokens at the wine fountain! So you could just stick to one wine or try some different ones, it is up to you.

Pop your token in and fill your glass..

There are plenty of shady or sunny spots to sit and relax and a terrace with two ginat wooden wine glasses, one representing white wine and one red.

This place might seem a bit cheesy for some and we would most definetely sit in the other camp that prefers to go wine tasting in a vineyard, meet the people who make the wine and see where it is grown, but we honestly ALSO enjoyed this alternative wine experience..

It does what it says on the tin.. You get to try as much wine as you want in a beautiful place and come & go as you please, no appointment required.. 

When you also take into account your limited holiday time and the other factors we already mentioned making a really good wine visit sometimes tricky to organise here, then we totally get it that the Wine Fountain might be the wine experience for you..

And so we are happy that this exta wine fountain option exists!

It can be tricky to get up here to Marezige on the hill, so there is also a wine bus..

Just to be super clear about wine tasting in Green Slovenia.. There are SO MANY unique and excellent wines produced all around this little country that you when you are in one of the SEVEN different wine regions, you will taste the unique wine that is grown in THAT REGION..

So here in the VINAKOPER region, you will taste Malvazija and Reforsk, but in BRDA it will be Rebula and Tokaj, in METLIKA it will be Black Metlika and Blue Frankinja, in the VIPAVA VALLEY it will be Pinela and Zelen!!

maybe this is a dog shower..

Indeed we have heard about another wine fountain not far from Novo Mesto, where we look forward to visiting soon, trying some unique local Cvicek wine and telling you all about it!

Other stuff to see in the Coastal Hinterland..

So the little village of Marezige is typical of these Coastal hill top villages with a pretty white church tower and sundrenched Cote d'azur feeling, like no other corner of Slovenia.. You might need to pinch your arm to remind yourself you are in Green Slovenia!

Do a loop through the Hinterland and you will see Kubed and the 5 walled tower ahead..

We massively recommend an extra drive, hike or bike ride in the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland and just go explore the little lanes.. It really does feel remote and unique here!

Maybe combine a daytrip here, going via the 5 walled tower at Kubed for a visit to the amazing Hrastovlje Fortress church, where a castle protects a church hiding  the most fantastic fresco, telling the story of the medieval Dance of Death.. but there are more Hinterland secret spots to discover in combination with a vsiit to the wine fountain if you like!