MASTERCLASS: FLAVOURS OF THE VIPAVA VALLEY, 20 May 2024
Organic and Biodynamic Vipava Valley Wines with Robert Gorjak
1:00 PM to 2:30 PM, Magna Hall, Lanthieri Manor
“Producing wine with minimal intervention requires extensive knowledge.”
Robert Gorjak, Belvin Wine School
REGISTRATION
The workshop is designed for people in the wine industry: gastronomy providers, merchants and journalists.
To participate, you need to first register via the online form.
A confirmed registration form makes the attendee eligible for a free ticket. Early registration is advised, as places at the workshop are limited.
MASTERCLASS – ANNOUNCEMENT
Once again this year, we will enhance the Okusi Vipavske festival with enriching content aimed at those for whom wine represents business – including restaurateurs, wine merchants, hoteliers, and representatives of professional media.
This time, our masterclass workshop will delve into organic and biodynamic wines from the Vipava Valley wine region. Leading us on this journey will be Robert Gorjak, one of Slovenia’s foremost wine experts and founder of the Belvin Wine School.
Robert Gorjak will guide us through the intriguing stories of those Vipava Valley winemakers who have chosen this challenging path. Through a tasting of a good dozen samples, he will showcase the diverse and high-quality range of such wines found in the Vipava Valley.
During the workshop, we will collectively define what it means to be organic, biodynamic, natural, orange, and unfiltered. We’ll debunk myths, address unjustified consumer expectations, and explore the mental traps winemakers can fall into.
Most of the samples will be white wines since, as Robert Gorjak asserts, white wines, especially white varietals, represent the most authentic and compelling face of the Vipava Valley.
Taking place in the enchanting Magna lobby of the Lanthieri Mansion in Vipava, the masterclass will focus on eighteen selected wines from eighteen winemakers featured in the festival lineup.
In a guided tasting, the participants will explore the characteristics of the wines and thereby expand their wine knowledge.
ROBERT GORJAK
The workshop will be hosted by Robert Gorjak, internationally acclaimed wine author and one of Slovenia’s foremost wine experts.
Having grown up in a wine family in the heart of the rolling hills of Ljutomersko-Ormoške Gorice, his passion for wine was first sparked in the early 1980s when he had the opportunity to shadow the best Slovenian oenologists and attend wine tastings in their company.
In 1994, he wrote his first article on wine. He is a contributor for Slovenia to the Oxford Wine Companion (Jancis Robinson), and The World Atlas of Wine (Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson). For several years he was a correspondent, collaborator and contributor to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book. In addition, he authored the Slovenian wine guides for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the monograph Slovenia – a Winemaking Country which was published in 2017.
A regular judge at international wine competitions, Mr Gorjak was chairman of the Slovenian judging panel at the Decanter World Wine Awards for several years. Since 2012, he has also been involved in the wine trade. First, he was in charge of buying and selling wine and spirits at Mercator, and today, he works as an agent for a handful of select wineries from the region.
In 2002, he founded Slovenia’s first wine school, named the Belvin Wine School, together with his wife Sandra. There he develops new content and teaches his own courses, as well as WSET courses. The first Slovenian to hold the WSET diploma in wine, he is passionate about sharing his wine expertise, consulting, organising events, occasional wine-writing and organising and leading top-end wine trips. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, diving, F1 and playing keyboards in a rock band.