Slovenia - Austria Wine Trip

Nep, I trust common sense and my basic local geographical knowledge. 99.99 percent of the rest of the world have a great problem differentiating Slovenia/Slavonia/Elbonia. And they don't care that they don't know what is where and why should they, it's such an unimportant issue. isn't it?

Just my 2 ¢:

Of course Slovenia has oak forests — as have Austria, Germany and many other countries. But that does not mean that these countries have any historic reputation for oak suitable for casks. Slavonian oak, however, has the historic fame of being able to produce the most long-lived casks on this planet. There are more than a handfull of wineries still using casks that are over 100 years old.

Willi Bründlmayer — who also had casks made of near-by Mannhartsberger Eiche from own forests — did a little research about which oak provenances were the most sought-after in the 19th century. The ranking:

— 1) Slavonia
— 2) France
— 3) Russia (iirc)

HTH a little.

Michael,
where in Russia do(did?) these oak casks come from? Was it Russia proper, or Belorus?
I was not aware Russia had good oak forests...

Mark

Mark, no idea.

I just tried to call Willi Brundlmayer, but reached only his voice mail. I left a message, and will answer as soon as I know more.

So, here we are, Willi called back. My memory was not correct. When Willi decided to go local oak ("Manhartsberger Eiche") some 15 to 20 years ago, he consulted an old French book on cooperage. This book ranked the quality of the casks' provenance, from high to low:

— Northeastern Europe (Bay of Gdansk, Lithuania)
— Central Europe (including Slavonia)
— France
— Oversea

What seems most probably to me is that "quality" at the time meant longevity, not the flavor type a cask would impart to the wine.

HTH a little!