Vipava (Vipavska Dolina) is a wine region of Slovenia's western Primorski region, which has become of the country's most successful viticultural areas in the past couple of decades. The inland Vipava Valley (Vipavaska Dolina) runs behind the Kras plateau, just north and inland from the Italian city of Trieste. Above it is the Trnovska plateau, which runs north-west to south-east and continues beyond Vipava's neighbor, Goriska Brda, and almost to the Italian border.
The hilly topography here is typical of this region; neither mountainous like the land just to the north, or flat like the foreland basin to the west. At altitudes between roughly 150ft and 1000ft (45m-305m), the valley's vineyard sites vary significantly in terms of their mesoclimatic features, creating a useful diversity of terroir. The sub-Mediterranean climate varies along with these geographical differences, from continental in the hillier north to mediterranean in the south, closer to the coast. This transition is reflected in the wines made here, with the western vineyards tending towards white Italian-styled wines, while the central valley, with its elevated diurnal temperature variation, produces reds with balanced acidity and good structure.
The two Cabernets (Franc and Sauvignon) are grown here in increasing quantities, alongside their Bordeaux stablemate Merlot and Italy's ever-popular Barbera. Vipava has an Italian feel that extends beyond the presence of Barbera, however. With its rolling cypress-topped hills, and the fact that Italian is as much an official language as Slovenian in this region, one could almost imagine this was Tuscany, several hundred miles away across the Adriatic and across the Italian Peninsula.
White wines from Vipava are generally fragrant and aromatic rather than weighty and bold. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc (Beli Pinot) are popular, as are Laski Riesling (Welschriesling/Riesling Italico), Pinela (Veneto's Pinello) and Zelen. These are the ingredients of the Vipava Valley's two core white wine blends, the off-dry Vrtovcan and the crisp, dry Vipavec.
