EMONAVINA IS NOW SL.IT WINES

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Europe's most exciting wine region

Europe's most exciting wine region

Slovenia and North East Italy has it all. SL.IT is the UK specialist.

Book a tasting

If you are a London based buyer or sommelier book a trade tasting now!

OUR WINES

Low intervention, low volume, family owned artisan vineyards. Trade customers get in touch for pricing and tastings.

WINE & FOOD TOURS

Join an award winning chef who lives amongst the winemakers of Slovenia & Collio. Our experiences are unique, immersive, and indulgent.

SL.IT APPAREL

Exclusive designs, high quality products delivered to your door in the UK AND EU.

Why SLOVENIA & COLLIO?

What is it that makes this region so exciting and one of Europe's fastest emerging wine regions?

QUALITY

Slovenia won more Decanter World Wine Awards in 2023, per litre produced, than their French or Italian cousins. Low volume, with only 10% exported, these are desirable wines.

SUSTAINABILTY

Small vineyards, artisan production, biodynamic and organic certification make these vineyards some of the most sustainable in Europe.

NATURAL & CLASSICAL

You prefer fine wines? Natural? Orange? Red? White? Pet Nat? We have it all from some Europe's finest.

FAQ

What makes your tours special?

Most wine tours are trips to vineyards, bog standard wine tastings with some charcuterie and cheese then back to where you are sleeping and being pointed in the direction of a local restaurant. You never know if you are visiting the best places or just the places the guide has the best kickbacks. Having lived in Slovenia for 6 years our founder Jason counts the best winemakers, chefs and food producers as his friends. We make sure you visit the very best people, we pay them fairly to host us. Jason is a chef and farming advocate so sitting together and eating and talking is central to our experiences which makes us unique. Our tours are more immersive, more fun, more inspirational and completely indulgent.

Why are you a trade only importer?

We're a very small boutique importer. Wines of Brda and Collio are increasingly respected and desirable, however their low volumes and high quality mean that when combined with the UK's high import duty and VAT, not to mention the higher costs of transport and time required to clear customs post Brexit at present it is not feasible to offer low volume consumer orders. We would love this to change in time.

I've never heard of wine from this region, is it really any good?

In a word, yes. Don't take our word for it, look at Decanter magazine, Master of Wine Caroline Gilby, former wine writer of the year Jancis Robinson, and orange wine expert Simon Woolfe for their opinions. Even better, why not come with us on a curated tour of the region and see for yourself!

Are the wines expensive?

See below and also see the answer to "Why are you trade only?" above as well.

Our trade prices start at around £18 a bottle (ex VAT) so compared to mass produced wines their price is higher. Why? Everything has a cost at some point in the supply chain. If the consumer pays a low price then the cost is to the quality of the product, land, or the farmer. All the winemakers we work with are small family run businesses. Our winemakers make between 8000-125,000 bottles a year from 3 to 26 hectares. Compare this to global bohemoths such as Australia's Hardy's who make around 113 million bottles of wine a year, or Chile's Casillero del Diablo who produce around 20 million bottles a year. Our winemakers are artisan. Hand harvesting, trimming, organic and biodynamic farming let alone the extensive cellar work. The focus is on sustainability, the land and the future as well as the product. This means the value of the wine for the quality and effort that goes into it is fair. But, these wines will never be £7 a bottle supermarket fodder.

What is natural wine, vs organic and biodynamic?

This is a long subject and one we will post about on our social channels but in short. Natural is a philosophy typified by the absence of chemical fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides in the vineyards, spontaneous fermentation (no added yeasts) and maceration in the vinification. A lot of wine makers will use traditional clay amphora to ferment the wines. The challenge of natural is its unpredictability, not just year to year but bottle to bottle, and also it's lack of policing. It's not a monitored or assessed process. Both of these issues can lead to questionable products in the hands of less able winemakers. For us we have had, and supply, some wonderful natural wines, often giving different signals to nose and palette which is fun. We have also had wine that should never have been given to drink. It is a trend, but disregard traditional French style winemakers at your peril, as the complexity in these wines will always be something to enjoy.

Want to know anything else?

Feel free to get in touch here