Had we been able to visit this region twenty million years ago, we would have found it very different from today. The Alps were still growing and tectonic activities made the relief extremely diverse, with high peaks and deep gorges. On the eastern edge, the land descended into the Pannonian sea. High peaks were being strongly eroded, and material from the mountains was being washed into the Pannonian sea, filling it intensively. The border between the Alps and Pannonian basin also experienced rather intensive volcanic activity, last registered "only" five million years ago.
Some ten million years ago - quite recently, as geologists understand time - the Pohorje mountains grew out of their magmatic base, pushing into Paleozoic metamorphic rock, stressing and cracking it. Erosion worked even faster, filling the valleys and lakes of the Pannonian sea with sediment that is up to 4000 meters (13,100 feet) deep today. More recent lively geological history created the only oil and natural gas fields in Slovenia - though not nearly enough to make Slovenia an OPEC country - and sources of thermal and excellent mineral water.
During the last ten million years, the Pannonian sea of dried out completely, leaving behind the wide Pannonian plain. The subsequent erosion of all the diverse sediments from different ages created hundreds of small rounded hills with mineral-rich, warm, and nutritious soils along the shores of the former sea - a nightmare for civil engineers who build roads in the region, but ideal winegrowing country. It is the specific soils of this region - quite different from those in other winegrowing regions of Slovenia - that make its wines so exclusive and specific. These soils developed primarily from noncarbonate rock.
The region's climate varies from the typical continental of its eastern areas to the mixed alpine- continental in the west. An abundance of sunny days sometimes causes droughts, but the hot winds rolling off the Pannonian plain are moderated by the cool eastern spur of the Alps that also shields the region from the harsh northern weather. The winters are moderately cold with regular heavy snowfall.
Wine has been known in the area since prehistoric times: the latest archeological finds indicate that the Celtic and Illyrian tribes of the region knew wine, probably learning about it from the Greeks. The region was famous for its excellent wines during the Roman period and was the first to reestablish commercial viticulture after the barbarian invasions from the East subsided.
Podravje, the largest of Slovenia's winegrowing regions, is divided into six winegrowing areas: Maribor, Radgona-Kapela, Srednje Slovenske Gorice, Haloze, Ljutomer-Ormo§, and Prekmurske Gorice. The wines of the Podravje region are among the most prestigious in Slovenia; the region is particularly famous for its late harvest and other wines of special quality. Its moderate climate and specific soils are ideal for the production of rich, aromatic white wines. The German influence is the most evident in the region's choice of grapes to cultivate - the best white wines of the region are similar to those grown in the Rhine and Mosel valleys but are generally more aromatic, sweeter, and stronger, thanks to the warmer climate.
Most aromatic white wines of Podravje age well due to their rich acids. Connoisseurs regularly store good vintages of Renski Rizling, Laçki Rizling, Sauvignon, æipon, Sivi Pinot, and Beli Pinot. Traminec is a more delicate wine and will age well only under ideal conditions. Rumeni Muçkat should be consumed within two or three years after fermentation: aged wine is quite noble, but it tends to lose its characteristic muscat fragrance and its bouquet becomes quite similar to that of aged Laçki Rizling. Radgonska Ranina and Rizvanec are not suitable for archiving.
During the last two decades the best vintages from the Podravje region in general were 1983, 1990, 1992, and 1993.
