Created in 1994, the Vinalies® Internationales Competition has become one of the major events in France. It is a major event in terms of its longevity, but also in terms of its renown. Vinalies is characterized by a jury of 130 tasters composed of specialists in sensorial analysis from around the world. We are proud that our Bagueri wines also convinced such a demanding jury.
Bagueri is one of the most popular premium wine brands in Slovenia, that receives awards on domestic and international wine competitions each year. This year Bagueri brand is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Back in 1992, Klet Brda created a visionary and daring brand of premium wines Bageri, cultivated on selected vineyards in Goriška Brda. Bagueri soon became one of the most popular wine brands in Slovenia.
The Japan Wine Challenge was established in 1997. Throughout all these years the Chairman of judges has been Steven Spurrier, considered by many to be the world’s finest wine palate. The Challenge is second to none – it is the oldest and most prestigious wine competition of Japan and Asia, which is also considered one of most important wine competitions worldwide.
The complete list of our wines that were awarded this year:
Cabernet Sauvignon Quercus 2020 – silver medal
Merlot Villa Brici 2009 – bronze medal
Merlot Quercus 2019 – bronze medal
Chardonnay Quercus 2020 – bronze medal
Check out the review here: https://bit.ly/JWC2021-KletBrda
Quercus is one of the most popular premium wine brands in Slovenia that receive multiple awards each year, attesting for its constant quality. In 2020 Quercus brand was commemorating its 20th anniversary with a refreshed image. Back in 2000, Klet Brda created a visionary and daring brand of premium wines, cultivated on selected sites in Goriška Brda. This marked the beginnings of the Quercus brand which soon became one of the most popular wine brands in Slovenia. With its distinctive flavour, characterised by the Brda region, Quercus has also won the hearts of numerous wine lovers abroad and is now being exported to 28 countries around the world.
At Klet Brda we are proud to announce that the quantity of this year’s vintage is very good while the quality is superior, which is why we were really looking forward to meeting with you today, our business partners and customers, at the occasion of St. Martin’s Day to celebrate this year’s exceptional harvest and vintage.
However, the current epidemiologic situation once again does not allow for a traditional St. Martin’s Day celebration, which is why we had to cancel our traditional event. We value your health above anything else and we are sure that soon we will be able to safely gather over good wine and food again.
Nevertheless, we want to bring the spirit of St. Martin’s Day into your home, where you can celebrate this holiday with your closest loved ones. With this in mind, we prepared a short video presenting the characteristics of this year’s vintage, traditional customs of Brda at St. Martin’s Day and the cuisine we prepare for this special day.
Happy St. Martin’s Day!
Favorite holiday of many, St. Martin’s Day brings friends together to enjoy in the young wine of the new vintage and the authentic flavours of the fall delicacies. With this in mind, Klet Brda has prepared a special wine for your fall and winter gatherings – Quercus young, the first young red wine of the Winery’s new vintage.
With its young and youthful character, Quercus young was made especially for those who are young at heart. It pairs perfectly with the elementary fall flavours, such as goose or duck, chestnuts, mlinci (baked noodles), red cabbage, and different fall stews.
A special characteristic of this young wine is that it retains most of the fruity aromas of the grapes, which gives it a pleasant fruity flavour and makes it easy to drink. Its primary aromas of fresh and fully ripened fruit take us into the world of ripe forest fruits, cherries, raspberries, sour cherries, and plums, each of them a piece in the mosaic of its noble bouquet. This young wine boasts a pleasant freshness, a special fruity character, and a long finish. It pairs well with fall dishes and roasted chestnuts. We serve it chilled at 13 to 15 degrees Celsius. Quercus young is more than just a wine that can be enjoyed for a few months, it can also be aged.
It will pair perfectly with your St. Martin’s Day dishes. If you want to enjoy it with the traditional St. Martin’s Day duck, follow the recipe we provided below and enjoy in the authentic fall flavours.
Ingredients for 4 servings:
approx. 2 kg of duck
salt and pepper
2 apples
1 onion
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Clean the duck and dry it with paper towels. Rub salt and pepper on the outside and the inside of the duck.
Peel the apples and cut them into larger slices. Chop the inion into larger pieces and mix it with the apples. Use the mixture to fill the duck and tie its legs with a string. Place it on a baking tray with its back facing upwards. In the baking tray, pour as much water as needed to cover the bottom. In the heated oven, bake the duck on the higher level for 20 minutes, then lower it on the medium level and bake it at a lower temperature (180 degrees Celsius) for approximately 40 more minutes. While baking, continuously baste the duck with the juices from the baking tray. For a crispy skin, increase the temperature to 230 degrees Celsius for the last 15 minutes of baking.
When the duck is somewhat cooled, cut it and serve it on a plate along with apples and side dishes, such as mlinci and chestnuts.
The results of the italian wine competition “Emozioni dal Mondo, Merlot e Cabernet insieme” are finally published and we are proud to announce that two of our wines have won a GOLD MEDAL. After a sort break the competition was held between 14 and 16 October in Bergamo. The event is one of the most important competitions in the world for the red varieties Merlot and Cabernet.
This year, we have produced 7,100 tonnes of grapes, not much less than the expected annual yield, which amounts to 7,500 tonnes.
The 2021 vintage will be of high quality. “This year, the quality of both white and red varieties is above average. The region of Brda is known worldwide as great for white wines, while sites for red wines need to be selected more carefully to ensure adequate characteristics. Varieties like Merlot and even more so Cabernet require longer ripening to fully develop their aromas, which is why we harvest them last. This year’s sunny, dry, and warm fall was ideal for red wines, which will boast an intense colour and soft and matured tannins. It looks like we might have a vintage as great as the one from 2013 or even the one from 1983,” says Darinko Ribolica.
Harvest
This year, we started harvesting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for sparkling wines on 2nd September, while the regular harvest began on Tuesday, 7th September, and will end on Tuesday, 12th October, when the last grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc will be picked.
Prices
This year, the overall annual price will amount to EUR 0.60, which is over 15% higher than last year’s. The price for a kilogram of grapes will range from EUR 0.40 to EUR 1.10. The grapes grown on the best sites, which reflect the vineyard’s special characteristics, will be priced at EUR 2.00 or higher.
“Single vineyard” does not have a uniform translation in Slovene, but it refers to an individual or independent vineyard. This term is used increasingly and all over the world. To understand what it means, we referred to the wine expert Dušan Brejc, who provided this explanation:
“Just like “terroir”, which is a French term for common influences of sites and people, vineyards and vintages also contribute significantly to the unique and every year different, but high, quality of wines. Everything else, from the choice of varieties to the used technologies and even knowledge, can be replicated anywhere. From the economic, environmental, and social point of view, it is important to single out vineyards that produce grapes for high-quality wines with protected geographical indication, which comprehensively reflect the environment of their origin. “The taste of vineyard” is a metaphor which is nowadays understood as “a sense of place”. To ensure the credibility of these efforts, it is crucial that the existing viticulture and wine legislation defines this English term and finds a Slovene equivalent for it. For the sake of winegrowers and consumers.”
This year, Merlot Single Vineyard 2018, aged in our De Baguer cellar at Dobrovo, was added to our selection of premium wines. The grapes for this wine were grown in the Vrh vineyard in Vipolže, a terraced Merlot vineyard, grown on marl soil, which has been cultivated according to the sustainable production principles for a decade. Situated on a sunny location, this carefully tended vineyard is 22 years old. Only 1 kg of grapes grew on one vine. One batch consisted of 1,775 bottles. The exclusively manual harvest took place on 29th September 2018. Production method: As soon as the grapes were harvested and brought to the cellar in crates, we removed the stems and started the 15-day maceration in a small wooden vinificator at 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. After the maceration and fermentation, we poured the wine in French barriques and left it to mature for 24 months. For this we used 40% of new barrels. The wine boasts a deep ruby red colour with a hint of purple. It smells of ripe berries, oriental spices, balsamic note, and tobacco, which is complemented by the vanilla taste. The wine’s full and balanced taste is fresh and warm and has a long and velvety finish.
We have asked Caroline Gilby, British Master of wine, to assess it and this is how she described it:
“This part of Europe offers an exceptional growing site for Merlot. The warm Mediterranean sun allows the grapes to fully ripen, giving the wine rich aromas of berries, mainly blackberries and raspberries, which are complemented by the elegant secondary notes resulting from the maturation in oak barrels. In addition, the cool breeze from the Julian Alps gives the grapes a pleasant freshness. All this contributes to a wine that subtly expresses the intense fruity aromas of blackberries and blueberries, perfectly balanced with soft tannins and vibrant freshness. It is an elegant interpretation of Merlot and its vineyard, which is here to stay.”
Slovenia is a traditional winegrowing country with a rich wine history. Slovenian winegrowers are participating in the promotion of Slovenia and its gastronomy by organising wine festivals, wine routes, wine tastings, harvest events, St. Martin’s Day, etc. At the winery, we wish to present our varied and rich tradition to visitors from Slovenia and abroad, so that they can truly understand why Brda and our wines are so exceptional and worth their time. Last year, we opened the Home of Rebula wine shop at the Dobrovo castle. A great starting point for exploring the Brda region and Brda winegrowers from both sides of the border, the wine shop offered visitors an innovative way to experience 21 different Ribolla gialla wines from 13 winemakers from Slovenia and Italy.
This year, we are expanding our offer of activities at Klet Brda. We listened to the wishes of our visitors, who wanted more authentic experiences with higher added value. When travelling or visiting new places, people search for unique stories and new experiences in which they can actively participate (more adrenaline, feelings, emotions). As wine tastings are already a well-established concept, we decided to showcase our tradition and wine culture in a wider, more innovative manner. In collaboration with Enigmarium, one of the leading providers of gamification of tourism products in the Alps-to-Adriatic region, which creates boutique, gamified, and individual activities, we have designed the first wine themed escape room in Slovenia. The guests start their experience by entering the Winegrowing gallery of Count Silverio de Baguer, who at the end of the 19th century greatly contributed to the development of viticulture in Brda. We designed the gallery together with Goriški muzej to ensure that we playfully depicted the true history of Count de Baguer and his winegrowing story. The game provides a real winegrowing and viticulture adventure, and we are convinced that this hour-long travel through time will provide our visitors with an unforgettable winegrowing experience.
For further details contact us via information below.
Neja Ožbot
Marketing and PR
Klet Brda
Zadružna 9
5212 Dobrovo
tel: +386 5 33 10 174
cell: +386 51 635 454
www.laureateimports.com
This year, the harvest in Brda came a week later compared to the average of the last years, when we started picking grapes for sparkling wines at the end of August. The delay was caused by the late blooming of vines in spring, which coincidentally meant that the vines were not damaged during frost, unlike many fruit trees.
We are expecting this vintage to be of great quality and its quantity comparable to other years. The family winegrowers of Klet Brda, the largest producer and exporter of Slovenian wines, are expected to bring in approximately 7,600 tons of grapes, a normal annual amount for the Winery.
The four hundred families, members of the winery cooperative, will have finished most of the harvest by the beginning of October, while late varieties and some other special varieties will remain in the vineyards until the end of October.
If the weather remains favourable, we believe that this year’s grapes will be of good quality. We hope for moderately warm and dry weather with temperatures not exceeding 27 degrees, as the final quality of grapes depends on the weather during the harvest.
Darinko Ribolica, oenologist at the Klet Brda Winery, said: “Winegrowers were happy to see the temperatures lower, as this provides favourable conditions for vines and harvesters. Lower temperatures during the nights allow the grapes to develop better aromas. The first harvested varieties have a distinctive fruitiness, adequate acidity, and moderate alcohol content. If the weather remains good in September, we can look forward to a great 2021 vintage.”
At the Mondial des Vins Extrêmes wine competition in Valle d’Aosta, Italy, involving wines produced in regions characterised by extreme conditions for cultivation, Klet Brda’s 2018 Bagueri Superior Rebula and 2017 Bagueri Superior Sauvignon Blanc were awarded gold medals.
At the Mondial des Vins Extrêmes only wines from vineyards grown on steep slopes and terraces over 500 metres above sea level or remote islands may participate. These are territories where most of the work is done by hand, which is also why the terroir is so intensely expressed. Although such winegrowing regions, including Brda, represent only 0.5% of the 3.5 million hectares of European vineyards, the wines they give have a sensory profile clearly indicating their origin and are exceptional in this sense.
Growing grape vines on terraces, cut by the determined winegrowers in the typical marly soil of Brda, is a clear example of viticulture from which authentic and unique wines, so much different from the massive production on the flat plains, originate. Klet Brda actively promotes heroic viticulture, including by participating in such competitions that unite producers from “extreme” regions in their efforts to make buyers understand the qualities of sustainable viticulture producing “sincere” wines.
The results are in for the 47th National Wine Competition Vino Slovenija, which took place between 12th and 14th July, in Gornja Radgona, Slovenia.
With one grand gold medal, 4 gold medals, and 7 silver medals, Klet Brda has reaffirmed the consistent quality of its wines. Excelling at this year’s competition, was Bagueri Chardoonay 2017, which scored 91.6 points and was awarded the grand gold medal.
Award winners:
Chardonnay Bagueri 2017 – grand gold medal
Merlot Bagueri 2016 – gold medal
Rebula Bagueri 2018 – gold medal
Cabernet sauvignon Bagueri 2017 – gold medal
Penina Bagueri Brut Peneče – gold medal
Krasno Belo 2020 – silver medal
Krasno Rdeče 2019 – silver medal
Krasno Rebula 2019 – silver medal
Rdeča zvrst selekcija Quercus 2020 – silver medal
Zlata Rebula Klet Brda 2020 – silver medal
Sauvignon blanc Quercus 2020 – silver medal
Sivi pinot Quercus 2020 – silver medal
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