Winemaker Notes
Aromas of apple, nectarine and pear. Herbal and earthy nuances. Playful and light with a subtle ginger spiciness.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged for 18 months in large oak casks and scheduled to be bottled in later April 2025, the still-cloudy sample 2023 Fosilni Breg Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Slovenian part of the Zieregg, where the vines were planted by Armin Tement in 2006 with own massal selections and different rootstocks adapted to the five different terroirs of the long rows climbing from around 300 up to almost 500 meters above altitude. The wine offers a clear, aromatic and generous but elegant and juicy bouquet of yellow fruits and flowers intermingled with saline and lemony notes. Round, refined and very elegant on the palate, thanks to the humous brown earth terroir, this is an irresistible, elegant, refined, savory and lemon-bitter Sauvignon Blanc with fine tannins and a long, lemon-flavored finish. This is a gorgeous wine with an open-hearted character.
Barrel Sample: 92-93
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
A picturesque, eastern European wine growing nation, Slovenia can claim one of the most ancient winemaking cultures in all of Europe. Its history dates back to the Celts and Illyrians tribes, well before the Romans had any influence on France, Spain or Germany. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that Slovenia developed a more refined, private-sector wine industry.
Today it is a powerful source of some of the industry’s most important orange wines (whites made with extended skin contact); furthermore, fully three quarters of the country’s wine production is white.
Slovenian weather is continental with hot summers and cold, wet winters. It is divided into three wine regions: Podravje in Slovenia’s northeast; Primorska in its west, close to Italy; and Posavje in its southeast. These are further divided to nine wine districts.