This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Slovenian Sweet over £15 went to Dveri-Pax, Šipon Slamno Vino, Podravje 2012 (12%)
Tasted against:
- Klet Zorenc-Hohnjec, Ledeno Vino Rumeni Muskat, Podravje 2011
- Simˇciˇc, Leonardo, Primorska 2008
- Vipava 1894, Vipavski Beli Pikolit, Primorska 2009
Profile:
Three years after the 2009 vintage of this wine won an DWWA International Trophy, Dveri-Pax has yet another gong in the bag, showing an enviable level of consistency and quality.
Housed in what was Jarenina castle, Dveri-Pax is owned by Benedictine monks who bought back the vineyards and old wine cellars in 1991 when Slovenia gained its independence. Documents in the nearby monastery record that wine was made here by monks in the 12th century. Considerable investment has since been injected into the estate, renovating a 15th-century mansion house, the vineyards and building a modern winery. Today its plantings cover 70 hectares and its first vintage was 2002.
According to Dveri-Pax, the aim of this Trophy-winner was to ‘express the delicacy of the Furmint grape’, a variety it believes is one of the best for sweet wines, and which is the oldest grape in the Stajerska region.
Furmint can produce stunning sweet wines in a range of styles. This wine, however, uses meticulously sorted dried grapes, the advantage being that it can be made in almost every vintage – particularly useful when the climatic conditions are not favourable to the production of icewine or grapes affected by botrytis. That said, production is still exceptionally limited – in 2012 Dveri-Pax only made the equivalent of 300 bottles.
Written by Decanter
