Posavje is the region where the French influence affected the local viticulture more than in any other Slovene winegrowing region; consequently, Posavje is primarily known for its blended wines. Local growers were always individualists, stubbornly growing and tending their wines in small private cellars or zidanice - the first cooperative winery of the region was established in Metlika in 1929 only after years of heated debate.
Winegrowing was an essential pillar of the local economy in past centuries. In concert with the fierce individualism of local growers and producers, this created particularly painful crises that affected the production and sale of wine. The Phylloxera plague of the 1880's, World War I, the Great Depression of 1929, and World War II bankrupted many of the vignerons and their dependents. People from the region emigrated in droves, particularly to the United States. Few Slovenes outside the Posavje region can answer the trick question "Which is the third largest Slovene city?" In fact, more ethnic Slovenes live in Cleveland, Ohio, than in any other city except Slovenia's capital Ljubljana and Maribor - most of them emigrated from Bela Krajina and other areas of the Posavje winegrowing region.
The Posavje region has 8706 hectares (21,513 acres) of absolute viticultural sites divided among four winegrowing regions: Dolenjska, Bela Krajina, Bizeljsko-SremiŸ, and æmarje-Virçtajn. The soils of Posavje are extremely varied, ranging from flysch to marl, clay, and sandstone with silica. Twenty-two different types of soil can be identified in Bela Krajina alone.
The climate also varies: Dolenjska is the wettest of all Slovene winegrowing regions, while Bela Krajina is quite hot with occasional droughts.
Although blended wines are the staple of this region's viticulture, climatic conditions allow the production of other excellent wines: its Ledeno vino produced from Laçki Rizling and other grapes rivals that of the Podravje region.
