Slovenia: Goriška Brda Wine Region

Located in far western Slovenia near its border with Italy is the Goriška Brda region, which is one of the country's main wine producing areas. We spent a few hours there as we made our way back to Venice on the last day of our 2018 Eurotrip.

First, we had to get out of Ljubljana. Luckily, this bit of traffic congestion was short-lived, and about an hour and a half later we were in Goriška Brda. Slovenia's motorways are tolled, but there are no tollbooths: the country uses a convenient vignette system similar to what Austria uses.

Our first stop was this observation tower in the village of Gonjače, which was built in 1961. It takes 144 steps to climb to the top of the tower, which is 23 meters (75 feet) high and offers amazing views of the entire Goriška Brda region.

The view from the top of the tower. If the skies are completely clear, you're supposedly able to see all the way to the Gulf of Trieste. There was a bit of haze in the distance when we visited, however.

The region is dotted with hilltop villages such as Šmartno. It was just a short distance away from the observation tower. Clearly visible is the clock tower of St. Martin's church: it looks like a turret atop a castle because it was once used used for defensive purposes.

Another view of vineyards and villages in Goriška Brda from the top of the tower. The only drawback to the Yugoslav-era tower is that it swayed with the wind, which was a bit frightening!

Outside of the village of Dobrovo is the Klet Brda winery. As luck would have it, we arrived right before their daily tour of their wine cellars.

Casks of wine in the cellar. The region produces several varieties, including the local white varietal known as rebula.

Another view from within the cellars. Check out those massive wooden casks on the right!

One more shot of the casks in the cellar (which was huge!). In addition to grapes, the Brda region grows other types of produce, including figs, grapes and plums. Honey is produced as well.

An afternoon shower in Dobrovo. The rain was just fine with us, as it meant we got to spend more time in Klet Brda's wine tasting room at the end of the tour. The wine-growing region that includes Goriška Brda is split between Slovenia and Italy.

Mom and Corinne sample Klet Brda's products. We were encouraged to stick around and drink as much as we wanted! Unfortunately, as good as the wine was I could only have a few sips: I still had to drive us back to Venice!

The winery staff also gave me some information about their distributors in the United States; however, I haven't had much luck tracking down their wines so far.

We only spent a couple of hours in Goriška Brda, but there's much more there to explore, including a recently-renovated Renaissance villa on the site of an old castle in Vipolže, a church featuring a Gothic-style altar built in 1515 in Kojsko, and the world's largest stone arch railway bridge. If you're traveling through Slovenia or even far eastern Italy (e.g. Trieste, Udine, Palmanova), this place is definitely worth checking out.

Our final stop was the Mercator grocery store in Dobrovo so mom could get some forest fruit preserves to take back to the States (she really liked it). Then it was on to Venice, where we checked in to our hotel, returned the rental car, had a final meal at a pizzeria, got a few hours sleep and then flew back to the United States. Thus ended the amazing 2018 EuroTrip.