If you are traveling to Slovenia and you are a wine and food lover you chose the right place. Slovenia has already earned a great reputation due to its top-quality wines, making it one of the world’s top winemaking destinations, not to mention the six Michelin starred restaurants.
Did you know that there are around 28,000 wineries in Slovenia, a country of only 2 million people? There’s one vineyard per 70 inhabitants, and when it’s harvest time, thousands of Slovenes come out to join forces in picking grapes. It’s a national tradition and a healthy way of socializing. Out of the annual production of approximately 90 million litres, 6 million litres of wine are exported, the rest is consumed locally. Quite impressive, right? This is a serious reason to come visit Slovenia and find it out first hand. If you happen to be in Ljubljana or Bled, you should seriously consider joining the Wine tasting Ljubljana conducted by a professional sommelier.
One of Slovenia’s most popular wine-making regions is Primorska, also known as the Littoral region. It lies to the west of the country, bordering Italy and extending downwards to the Adriatic coast and Slovenian Istria. Whether you’re a wine expert or someone who enjoys a glass of wine over lunch, the best way of experiencing Slovenia’s winemaking tradition is by joining a wine tour where you will enjoy the highlights of Slovenia’s wine regions, stunning nature, romantic vineyards, and the wine cellar treasures. This type of wine tourism is growing in popularity because it’s an all-inclusive experience. With wine tours Slovenia you will be able to taste a rich variety of different high-quality wines and also get a chance to walk into boutique wineries and learn about the tradition directly from the winemaker. He would tell you also that one of the most famous Slovenian local wines is Teran, a wine rich in acids and minerals, including iron and traditionally believed to contain medicinal properties. Its richness makes it a perfect match for meat.
What we learn traveling is that food and drink are closely connected to the country's tradition. They represent a major part of every culture and are directly connected to the land. Slovenia’s cuisine has centuries-long tradition and almost every little part of the country has something delicious and different to offer. If you are visiting Slovenia, you usually stay in hotels, hostels, apartments, walk around and enjoy the sightseeing, you dine at the restaurants... But the best experience you can get is always meeting and interacting with local people. Would you enjoy stopping to be a tourist for a day and live like a local? If you would like to know more about local habits, culture, and have more insider’s stories you should most certainly join a so-called “home-hosted meal”. It's an unforgettable lunch or dinner with locals, eating home-made food and wine and learning stories and tips you will never find in any guidebook.
So, let's try another way of tourism and move closer to a local experience starting with the most obvious – food and wine.