Svetlik

Beneath Čaven, high up there, I live …
We decided to build a house and grow the vines in the place, where the sky doesn’t end, where the sun keeps shining. On a high, sunny slope of Čaven, above the village Kamnje, called Grace, we planted a vineyard of Rebula, our favourite domestic sort. And here among our vineyards, we are writing a new story of our lives and slowing down from a daily routine. We are pursuing to craft little, but excellent wine, with just one bottle from each vine.   Ivi and Edvard Svetlik

Estate
The Estate Svetlik is a challenge for us – to confront with the unspoiled nature, the bora wind and the crafting of the Rebula wine.It is both, our greatest pleasure and our satisfaction.

Vineyard
To work in the vineyard is feeling the nature in all its richness. To feel the winter calmness, the spring blossom, the summer bloom and with the harvest, autumn maturity. The vineyard possesses its own magic and its own strength. This feels also our granddaughter Maruša, always singing amongst the vines. Our vineyard is grown in a nature-friendly way and the grass around the vines is mulched and scythed manually. We use no herbicides or insecticides and we take great care of a natural symbiosis. And we enjoy listening to the birds singing and the views of the thyme bushes nestled among the vines. Harvest is a holiday. It is a holiday also because our friends and their families come and join us and help us harvest the ripe grapes and remove the stems by hand.

Cellar
Rebula is aged in selected oak barrels in the cellar at the Tilia Estate, Kukanje. We have teamed up with Matjaž Lemut, an expert winemaker from the Vipava region, who shares our respect for the old winemaking tradition and nature. Together, we are searching for the perfect harmony of tradition, nature and vine.

Rebula
The growing of Rebula is based on an over 200-year tradition in which the wine is enriched by allowing for fermentation together with the grape skin, which is the process used for red wines. This technique was also mentioned by the parish priest Matija Vertovec in his book »Winegrowing for the Slovenes« (Vinoreja za Slovence) dating from the year 1844. He calls upon wine growers to boil grapes on the marc to ensure it does not spoil during summer. The wine is fermented solely by yeasts developed on grapes harvested from the vineyard prior to the harvest. Rebula is even finer because no foreign yeasts are added. It is then aged in selected oak barrels with complete biological de-acidification and mixing of lees. The wine is not filtered. The abundance of aromas and tastes proves that the ideal location of our vineyard and our meticulous care are just what Rebula needs.

May our Rebula bring you pleasure and joy! Cheers!