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Stajerška Slovenia

Aci Urbajs

OUR PRODUCERS: Aci Urbajs

  • THE ARTIST
  • THE PLACE
  • PHILOSOPHIES
  • WINEMAKING

Aci’s first deep connection to grape vines was in the year 1969. He was only a boy, and his parents had bought a piece of land with a small old vineyard on it. These we’re his first holdings.

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“It was a learning game of working together. My father took most of the work, but I truly felt a relationship soil, plants, grapes and the responsibility we have as human beings.”

The chapter began in 1987, when Aci was looking for a place of his own. His parents bought him a small, but abundant vineyard on the hill of Rifnik as a gift after he finished university in Maribor. At the vineyard’s peak was an old cottage to be used as a cellar. The house was carefully restored under the supervision of the Slovenian Archeological Administration, because of Rifnik’s archeological significance.

On the northern edge of the outskirts of Kozjanski, lies the prominent hill. It’s conical shape gives a centerpiece to the landscape of the valley. The first human settlements around Rifnik go back five-thousand years before Christ. Civilization here has a history through the Bronze and Steel ages, and on through the Celtic and Roman times.

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Aci thinks of the long history of civilization and viniculture in Rifnik as a reminder that wine didn’t start with us, and it won’t end there either. Who planted the fist vines is unknown, but archeologists, have found evidence of Roman plantings. An old church nearby has engravings of grapevines in one of the stone walls.

“The biodynamic viticulture and all the processes developed in accordance with nature is important, as consumers can chose and influence who pursues re-awakening already forgotten farming methods.”

Being on a slope, his yields are very low, but the sugar and extract from the grape are high. The north and east walls of the slope are rocky and almost impassable. The south and west are gentle and arable.

As Aci was developing the farm, he found two urns that archeologists dated to 800 B.C.E. This got Aci thinking about how traditional farming could keep him cloesly connected to the genius loci of Rifnik. In 1998 he discovered biodynamics, and has since followed that approach.

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“I found connections between and animals, lives and the soil kingdom This is the traditional way of farming.”

Aci is fiercely traditional in his farming and winemaking. He describes it as archetypical wine. He doesn’t add sulphur or rack. The wine is left in wooden casks, and when he feels it has stopped its progress he bottles. The wine is meant to tell a story of a vintage, but always with the greater theme of Rifnik. Aci believes that farming naturally both encourages vitality and “energetic forces” in the soils, but also maintains their quality for future generations.

Aci bottles two ranges of wines. First are top quality wine made with biodynamic grapes and harvested in the late autumn after they are very ripe. Often these grapes will become infected with botrytis.

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Fermentation is natural without any added yeasts or anything else. There are no chemicals in the vineyard either, and grass grows freely between the rows. The yield is extremely low, half a kilo per vine. Cultivated from one and a half hectares on the steepest slopes. It’s very hard work to make these wines!

The second line is his “extra” organic wines which rest on the lees without sulphur.

“This is an ancient, natural method. I got the idea when thinking about how the biodynamic method could be brought into the cellar.”

Aci uses a planetary chart to determine many fundamental decisions in the vineyard and cellar. Aci’s evolved form of holistic farming and winemaking indeed takes biodynamics and the ideas of global connectedness to a step further, to the universe at large.

PHOTO GALLERY

CERTIFICATION

Download Demeter Certificate
Download Kon Cert Certificate

PRESS AND AWARDS

The NY Times Style Magazine October, 3th, 2016

AT A GLANCE

WHO:
Aci Urbajs

WHERE:
Šentjur

WHAT:
Blaufrankisch, Chardonnay, Kerner, Laški Rizling, Pinot Grey, Pinot Noir

HOW:
Organic and Biodynamic Certified

QUANTITY:
4,000 bottles

LOCATION

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PHOTO GALLERY OF OUR EVENTS

NEW YORK

Indie Wineries National Portfolio Tasting on March 5th, 2019

NEW YORK

Portraits at Portfolio Tasting on March 7, 2017

NEW YORK

Work with on March 6th, 2017

NEW YORK

Portraits at Portfolio Tasting on March 8, 2016

NEW YORK

Portfolio Tasting on March 8, 2016

PHILADELPHIA

The Artisan's Cellar Tasting on March 7, 2016

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Franciacorta Seminar with Giovanni Arcari on July 8, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO

Portfolio Tasting on March 4, 2015

NEW YORK

Portfolio Tasting on March 2, 2015

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