Four generations, glerja and Malvasia

Koglot — good people, good wine

Vrtojba, Vipava Valley · Slovenia

At the edge of Vrtojba, right on the Italian border, the Koglot family has looked after a century-old homestead and its vineyards for four generations. Local grapes, gravel soils known as glerja, and sparkling wines that carry the name.

Location: Vrtojba, Vipava Valley
Family: four generations
Soil: gravel soils (glerja)
Visits: cellar tastings by reservation

A homestead on the border

Vrtojba lies where the Vipava Valley begins, almost touching Gorizia. Here the Koglot family looks after a century-old homestead and the vineyards around the village with respect and hard work. Wine was always part of the house; in the second half of the last century winegrowing became the family's main occupation.

Today four generations share the same roof. The vineyards were planted mainly with local varieties, of which Malvasia is the favourite.

Glerja: gravel under the vine

The vineyards around Vrtojba sit low, about sixty metres above sea level, on gravel soils the locals call glerja. The wines on the latest technical sheets take their name from it too: the grey-label Malvazija and Marselan “Glerja” and two sparkling wines.

Malvazija Glerja is a skin-contact wine: according to the 2024 technical sheet it macerates and ferments for two weeks, then spends a year on its lees in acacia casks and partly in oak barriques.

The Glerja Zero sparkling wines

Koglot's two sparkling wines are made by the traditional method and are fully dry. Glerja Zero is pure Malvasia, Glerja Rosé Zero is Pinot Noir. In the 2023 vintage both spend more than sixteen months on the lees after the second fermentation in bottle.

Malvasia as a sparkling wine is a rarity; here it shows how far a local grape can go when a family trusts it.