10.30 – 11.00
Arrival and registration of guests at Villa Vipolže
11.00 – 13.30
Master Class
Rebula wines, from vintage 2020 to 2016
The Masterclass will be led by Slovenia’s foremost wine expert Gašper Čarman, owner of a domestic wine distribution network, importer of foreign wines and Slovenia’s best sommelier in 2013 and 2015. We are proud to announce the presence of Caroline Gilby, MW (UK), renowned author, writer and consultant specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. She is also an international wine judge and panel chair for Northern & Eastern Europe and the Balkans at Decanter World Wine Awards. During the vertical tasting, Caroline will discuss the specifics of three different and distinct Rebula wine styles.
She will also share with us her view on the potential of Rebula – Ribolla Gialla as an indigenous wine with a vast amplitude of interpretation and discuss strategies for promoting Rebula wines as well as current consumption trends in the UK and globally, taking into consideration the changed circumstances brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic.
Denis Rusjan, Associate Professor at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana, will explain how the Brda terroir represents a successful coexistence of different but equally important parts of a complex ecosystem as a living example of sustainable wine production from the vineyard to the cellar.
Stefano Cosma, wine writer and connoisseur, with expert knowledge of Rebula history, will present the position of the Collio / Brda region and Rebula in the Imperial classification from the year 1785, when the County of Gorizia decided to classify the best wines of the then Princely County with regard to their quality.
13.30 – 14.30
Light lunch by Tomaž Kavčič, one of the most renowned Michelin stars chefs of Slovenia
14.30 – 17.00
Wine tasting with the finest Rebula wines from the Brda and Collio region
17.00 – 19.30
Break
19.00 – 20.00
Aperitif with rebula wines vintage 2020 »en primeur« accompanied by culinary artworks by Uroš Fakuč, chef and owner of renowned Slovenian Michelin starred restaurant Dam, in the courtyard of the Dobrovo castle
20.00
Closing dinner with specially selected large format bottles of Rebula old vintages at the Klinec family estate in the village of Plešivo hosted by top local chef Uroš Klinec
Caroline Gilby MW
Decanter Magazine, DWWA 2019 Regional Chair for North, Central & Eastern Europe
Caroline Gilby MW is a freelance writer and consultant, specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. Among others, she currently contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, The Oxford Companion to Wine, and the World Atlas of Wine, and has previously written for Dorling Kindersley’s Wines of the World, The Wine Opus, and Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report. Prior to her career as a writer, Gilby spent seven years as a senior wine buyer at Augustus Barnet off-licences, where she became the first major buyer to import Hungarian wines to the UK. She initially studied plant biology, in which she holds a doctorate, but abandoned life behind the microscope for a career in wine soon after winning the Decanter-Macallan Malt Whisky Taster of the Year Award while still a student. Gilby passed her MW in 1992 and has been visiting and tasting the wines of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania for over 20 years.
Gašper Čarman
For the last ten years, Gašper Čarman has been living his dream by catering to the wishes of wine enthusiasts in Slovenia and Europe. In 2004, he established eVino, the first online wine shop in Slovenia, which in ten years become largest fine wine distributor in Slovenia. Together with his siter Nina, Gašper runs “Danilo gostilna & vinoteka”, a family restaurant with 50 years of tradition. His recent project is wine brand called Gasper, where he joined forces with Klet Brda and successfully selling his wines in Slovenia, UK, Switzerland, Poland, Spain and Croatia. Wines have received several awards including this year DWWA silver medal for Rebula 2013.
As a sommelier, Gašper Čarman has won gold medals in every national competition he took part in. He was competing two times for Best European sommelier and two times for Best World sommelier. He regularly contributes articles on wine and wine-drinking culture to various magazines. He is currently in the process of completing his studies at the renowned MW institute in London.
Stefano Cosma (Kosmazh)
Born in Trieste in 1966, residing in Gorizia, bachelor of laws and expert in communication and enogastronomy. As journalist and publicist he has managed and directed the monthly Fuocolento, regularly collaborates with the Il Piccolo daily and the periodicals Bubble’s, TOP Taste of Passion and Espansione. He is regional coordinator for Vinibuoni d’Italia and contributor to guides by Gambero Rosso and La Repubblica – Grupo Gedi. As author of several books on local history and the history of wine, Stefano has penned a history of Tocai, of Vitovska and of viticulture in the region of Gorizia, as well as of the castles and select wine estates of the Collio. He is a member of the judging panels for Vinistra in Poreč and Filari di bolle in Casarsa, and sits on the select committee for the “Brda/Collio/Cuei“ UNESCO candidature. In 2013 Stefano Cosma coordinated the “Rebolium-La Ribolla nei tempi / Rebolium-Rebula skozi čas / Rebolium – Rebula through the ages” event, book and charity auction.
Prof. Denis Rusjan, Ph.D., M.Sc., Agr. Eng.
Denis Rusjan, Ph.D., is a professor of viticulture at the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, where he conducts scientific research in addition to giving lectures. In his recent work, he is mostly involved in assessing the value of local and domesticated wine grape varieties and describing their genotypes and phenotypes, including their response to various agrotechnical and ampelotechnical measures, climate change and the increasing number of new diseases appearing in vineyards. Putting forward new genotypes is inevitable to tackle the changing growing and environmental conditions and therefore Prof. Rusjan is also increasingly focusing on selecting local variety biotypes and introducing new ones. His bibliography is a staggering array of scientific and technical publications, not seldom in high-ranking journals.
