This area is climatically transitional between the flatlands around the Drava River of the Maribor area and the more Pannonian landscape and climate of the neighbouring Radgona-Kapela area. The area is quite hilly, and only its southern and eastern sites are suitable for viticulture. The soils are a product of mid-Miocene sediments, characteristic for the edge of the Pannonian plain: clay, sand, and marl.
The climate here is also mixed. The continental influences of Pannonia are moderated by cooler currents from the Alps, and summers are moderately warm, also due to a higher relief than in the neighbouring Radgona-Kapela area. Rainfall is mostly adequate, and winters are relatively cold with enough snow to keep the vineyards properly protected. Characteristic planting schemes make the vineyards hugging the hilltops and upper slopes quite distinctive.
Ptuj, then called Poetovio, was a noted center of viticulture in Roman times, but viticulture in Ptuj declined during the Dark Ages. A brief revival began during the ninth century, but in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Ptuj was a part of a disputed border region and a frequent scene of bloody battles as Hungarian tribes expanded westward. Ptuj itself was sacked and burned twice during those turbulent times - winegrowing did not flourish in this period. Only in the 12th century when the Hungarian tribes were finally forced to retreat eastward did winegrowing begin a lasting revival.
The oldest wine cellar in Ptuj, the old cellar of the Minorite monastery, is over four hundred years old and still in use.
An indication of how large the production of wine around Ptuj was in the past: the records of 1845 show that the Dietrichstein family, the owners of Ptuj Castle, sold 50,000 liters (13,210 gallons) of wine at the beginning of the year alone; the remaining records are lost.
Have you heard of Bombolino? In this rather famous World War II epic, the peasants of a small Italian village hastily elect the local drunk, village clown, and born loser Bombolino (portrayed by Anthony Quinn) as their mayor to face the wrath of the German army that has just been defeated at Monte Cassino and in retreat is plundering the Italian countryside. A German lieutenant (Hardy Kruger) is approaching the village to "liberate" its famous wines, but Bombolino hides most of them in an antique Roman grotto outside the village and has a wall built to hide the bottles.
The makers of this delightful movie probably didn't know that the plot was not complete fiction: something quite similar happened in Ptuj. Jo`ef Ornik, a famous Ptuj wine producer, had a section of his wine cellar walled off just before German troops entered the area and thereby managed to save his most valuable and oldest wines. Today, Ptujska klet, the oldest wine archive in Slovenia, can proudly display the rarest of vintages, including the 1917 "Zlata trta" (Zierfandler), the 1919 Zeleni Silvanec, the 1926, 1935, and 1938 Renski Rizling, and many others.
White wines are the staple product of the area; its Sauvignon, La{ki Rizling, Chardonnay, [ipon, and others are quite distinctive. Particularly on southern sites around Podgorci and Velika Nedelja, Sauvignon and Rumeni Mu{kat achieve a special quality.
Modri Pinot produces excellent red wine on some sites. Cultivation of other red varieties that were once very popular in the area - Modra Frankinja, @ametna ^rnina, and Modra Portugalka - has declined severely.
