Slovenia makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 10 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Femente · Country Almanac
A wine guide toSlovenia
Slovenia
10
557
84
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Primorje
White wines built on mineral tension dominate Primorje's limestone slopes, where producers like Simčič mine sauvignon blanc's briny edge…
Podravje
Podravje whites turn mineral and taut in the shadow of the Alps, where cool nights sharpen acidity and producers chase precision over…
Goriška Brda
White wines built on minerally limestone soils define this Slovenian borderland, where producers chase precision over ripeness and pair…
Štajerska
Štajerska whites—Laški Rizling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay—lean toward mineral tension and green-apple acidity, built for food rather…
Vipava
Vipava Valley's cool-climate whites split between mineral, herbaceous styles and riper stone-fruit expressions, while reds lean toward…
Istra
Istrian reds bend toward savory earth and cherry skin—wines that taste more of slate than fruit—while the whites carry a mineral…
Karst
Red wines from limestone and flysch soils dominate the Karst plateau, where producers wrangle Refosco and Teran into wines of mineral…
Posavje
Posavje splits itself between still whites that catch the Sava's mineral breath and sparkling wines that pull toward Champagne's…
Wine of Slovenia
Slovenia's white wines pivot between minerality and orchard fruit, while its reds—mostly Refosco and Teran—carry the darker, earthier…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles Slovenia makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of slovenia’s production.
1,790
Slovenian White — the country’s most numerous bottle.
752
262
250
198
197
126
9
The houses that keep showing up.
9 Slovenia estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Slovenia our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Restaurant Milka
Traditional · European — Kranjska Gora
96
Pajta
Traditional · European — Hodoš / Hodos
92
PAVUS | Restaurant
European — Laško
92
Faladur gostilna in vinoteka
Traditional — Gradišče pri Vipavi
88
Triangel Boutique Hotel
Traditional · European — Kranjska Gora
88
LALU bistro
European — Celje
88
KODILA RESTAURANT
Traditional — Murska Sobota
88
Gostilna Mahorčič
European · Traditional — Rodik
88
Rizibizi restaurant
Grill · European — Piran / Pirano
82
Gostilna & Eko Kmetija Repovž
Farm To Table · European — Ilirska Bistrica
82
Gostilna Kristof
Grill · European — Kranj
82
Stara Gostilna
European · Traditional — Piran / Pirano
82
Add Slovenia to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.