Sept 2021: O Vino: 6 Santomas Wines Get High Scores

Santomas – Koper, PRIMORJE REGION

The village of Smarje, located just southeast of Trieste, Italy and close to Koper, Slovenia’s Adriatic port city, is home to the Santomas vineyard. It is said that during the Ninth century, a merchant named Glavina purchased land around Smarje. Today Ludvik and Andreja Glavina, descendents of the Ninth century owners of this land, own and run the Santomas winery, Ludvik inheriting the land from his father. The name ‘Santomas’ appears in the book Topographie di totes le vignobles, written in 1832 and refers directly to this region. As Slovenia gained its independence in 1990, Ludvik and his wife Andreja returned to the vineyard to expand and to improve on the existing operation in the new spirit of private enterprise.

The Santomas winery sits 350 meters high on a hillside overlooking the Adriatic Sea, with steep forested slopes to the north and the coastal plain covered with grapes and olive trees to the south. Specializing in red wines, Santomas takes full advantage of the warm Mediterranean climate to nourish their grapes. Since 1990 the Glavinas have invested in technology to improve and enhance the quality of grapes, as well as refining the aging process using barrique barrels. These investments have resulted in exceptionally full-bodied, well-rounded red wines, worthy of the long history and tradition of the region.