Everyone is talking about Slovenia right now – or they are in my friendship group, at least. If you’ve ‘done’ the Dolomites, the French Alps, and the Pyrenees, this scenic country just below Austria is increasingly becoming the next destination on the list. I spent a week there, hiking, in June, and it was easy to see why: with its snow-capped mountain ranges, crystalline blue lakes and flower-filled meadows, it is a dream for outdoor types. It’s also increasingly being recognized as a great destination for wine thanks to its diverse terroirs and exciting mix of international and native grapes, which can seemingly do everything from Burgundy-style pinots to avant-garde orange wines in a country just 160 miles wide. And two hotels I stayed in were particularly strong on the cellar front.
The first was Villa Muhr on Lake Bohinj, a stunning 3-mile-long body of water in the heart of the Julian Alps, which lies about 90-minute drive northwest of the capital, Ljubljana, via the much-Instagrammed Lake Bled. Edged by meadows and forests and little shingly inlets for swimming, Bohinj is a popular jumping-off point for the country’s biggest peaks. As one local said to us: “tourists go to Lake Bled, but Slovenians go to Lake Bohinj.”
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Built in 1902, Villa Muhr was originally an aristocratic hunting lodge, before becoming a retreat for the Yugoslav royal family (other regal guests included Prince George, Duke of Kent). Not long ago it relaunched as a more exclusive suite-only offshoot of Hotel Bohinj next door, complete with four luxurious chalet-style suites plus a candle-lit wine room and fine dining restaurant.
Its head chef, Davor Arnautović, has made local produce a big focus – the menu is full of pretty and inventive dishes featuring alpine herbs, local honey, cheeses, flowers, and fish, and the extensive wine list also showcases Slovenia’s wealth of indigenous grape varieties. Under the guidance of sommelier Nejc Jakopič, I tried the herbal/citrusy white grape Zelena, (in both sparkling and still forms); and Pinela, a white variety whose fragrant freshness is put to great use in a zesty orange wine by Slap’s Vino Marc. The rustic red variety Modra Frankinja – the forerunner of the Austrian vibrant, berry-packed Blaufränkisch – is also back in vogue thanks to winemakers like Albiana in the east, who are using it to make reds with great verve and intense cherry/blackberry/mineral notes.
If you love orange wines, Rebula is another grape to know – I tried some wonderfully rich and spicy, textural orange wines from Mlečnik, a biodynamic winery in the far west, just near the border with Italy (which is where a lot of the most exciting natural winemaking is).
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Our absolute favorite hotel for eating and drinking was Vila Planinka, a modern chalet-style affair in Jezersko, a lush alpine valley which lies further north, just a few miles from the craggy Austrian border (and which is also, miracle of miracles, just half an hour from Slovenia’s main airport).
There’s some really wonderful – and occasionally hair-rising – hiking here, in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, which means you work up an appetite – and the nightly four-course menu was a brilliant showcase of Slovenian cuisine through a contemporary lens: pink beetroot bread and whipped butter; potato rosti with tangy homemade pickles; trout ceviche; slow-cooked pork cheek; blueberry ‘soup’ with rye bread ice cream; and wonderful smoked meats and cheeses.
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Planinka’s head sommelier Vanesa Centrih is also brilliant, with a deep knowledge of, and love for, her country’s wines (her deputy, a seasoned mountaineer, is also good for hiking tips). We did a two-hour tasting with Centrih, taking in some of Slovenia’s premier producers. From the trendy Goriška Brda region, on the border with Italy, were the single-vineyard rebulas of vinous rockstar Marjan Simčič, and expressive biodynamic wines of Movia (which also has a nice wine bar, Vinoteka Movia in Ljubljana, if you’re passing through). Representing the north easterly region of Goričko, meanwhile, was a big, structured Chardonnay from organic-style winemaker Marof. We also tasted a wealth of different, and delicious, orange wines throughout our stay.
Believe it or not, we also found time on our trip to taste some of the local spirits. A favorite was a Martini at Vila Planinka made with Gin #3 from Ajdovščina’s Bratinov Distillery and Sakrabolt Vermouth from the low-intervention Slovenian winery Heaps Good Wine, which is bittered with the roots of the blue gentian flowers you see growing all over the Alps. At Hotel Plesnik, we watched the sun going down over the mountains with a Martini made with gin distilled just down the road from botanicals including burje, a dwarf pine variety we also saw a lot of on our walks (and which also features in Imagine Gin, which we tasted at Villa Muhr). No finer way, if you ask me, to get a sense of place.
