Primoz Lavrencic ~ Sutor

 

“Wine reflects the human personality; it is not created either in the vineyard or in the cellar, but arises in the mind. My wines are clear, because so are my thoughts: clean and clear.”

Primoz Lavrencic

Winemaker & Farmer
Sutor Wine Farm
Podraga, Slovenia

Wine in Slovenia? It is true. And not just wine, some of the best wine in the world is being made in the valley just beyond the Italian border above the Adriatic Sea. Wine making was originally introduced to the Vipava Valley over two thousand years ago by the Romans and their love and respect for this art is still reflected in people’s attitudes today. Wine-making is regarded as a way of life.

The Lavrenčič family moved to the Vipava Valley in 1499 and have been growing and making wine ever since. In 1904, Anton Lavrenčič Sr. purchased the Sutor (Latin: shoemaker) farm. It is said that there was once also a shoemaker’s workshop on this wine cultivating farm.

Primoz vacillated between studying architecture, agronomy and comparative literature in university. It was after tasting his father’s Welsch Riesling in 1991 that he decided to study agronomy. That wine convinced him that there was something beautiful, attractive and particularly artful about wine.

The knowledge acquired during his studies, together with the experience of his ancestors and some Slovenian and Italian wine-growers has encouraged Primoz to resume the cultivation of vineyards in the old ways of Vipava: planted densely, modest yields and respect for nature. Primoz explains, “The taste of our wine comes from the fact that in our vineyards we have never used herbicides, and since 1991 no insecticides.”