Business, / By STA

If the weather holds out, this year's grape harvest should be exceptionally good and of very high quality, at least according to predictions by growers in three leading wine regions in western Slovenia.

There has been just enough sun and rain, the vines are heavy with grapes and the berries are healthy due to high temperatures and relatively dry weather.

"This year's harvest is promising. We were rather worried because of the high temperatures the week before, but the rain has come at the right time," winemaker Matjaž Lemut from the Vipava Valley says.

Speaking with the STA, he warned though that a prolonged period of wet weather could bring diseases they have not had this far.

Weather permitting, Lemut expects the harvest of Pinela to begin in the second half of August: "We expect one of the best years in a decade. We'll see that after 20 August when we start picking early varieties."

Similarly upbeat is a fellow winemaker from Goriška Brda, Ivan Peršolja. "So far it looks like an exceptionally fine crop...it's just right, not too abundant."

But Peršolja would not venture yet to talk about the quality of the wine. This depends on the quality of the grapes, climate conditions, the picking time and processing technology.

He did say though that "this year's vintage offers an opportunity to bottle special archival series wines" for the posterity.

Producers in Kras, the region best known for the deeply red Teran wine, are also looking at a bumper season.

"We have great expectations for this year. The most crucial are the conditions in early June when the vine is in bloom; we had lovely weather in Kras then," Boris Lisjak from Dutovlje said.

His only fear is hail, which has damaged grapes in Kras often in the past.

Picking there will start a bit later than elsewhere in Primorsko, the whites in September and the Teran in late September or early October.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, Slovenia has between 17,000 and 18,000 hectares of vineyards.

Production has dropped to between 60 and 70 million litres a year in recent years. Around 70% of the wine produced in Slovenia is white, which is also the preferred choice of Slovenian consumers.