Slovenia: Roka, Kog
Liam and Sinead Cabot are from Ireland, where they currently run a successful wine importing business, Cabot & Co (https://www.cabotandco.com/). But they also have a vineyard and winery in Slovenia. There was a family connection: Liam’s dad worked in Ljubjana for a few years as an environmentalist. And after some searching they found a house and vineyard in Kog. They bought it in 2007.


This is in the Ljutomer-Ormož wine region, which consists of 2000 hectares of vines in a hilly area on the edge of the Pannonian Plane. The soils are heavy clay with sandstone. The region is dominated by a huge cooperative in Ormož who make 6.5 million bottles of wine a year: they basically made all the Yugoslavian white wines back in the day, when their production was as high as 9 million bottles. They are now privately owned and are called Puklavec and Friends.
Their first experimental wines were made in 2011. They planted some Blaufränkisch in 2012, a bold step for what was largely a white wine region. This complemented by the Furmint and Laški Rizling they already had. First vintage of Roka (which means hand in Slovenian) was 2013, but it took until 2015 for them to make wines they were really happy with. Winemaking is lo-fi. All the whites are under 50 ppm total SO2.
I visited in May 2022 on my first Slovenian wine tour, so on this trip I caught up with Liam in Maribor to taste through more recent wines.

They have been experimenting a bit, since I visited. In 2022 they purchased some Rumeni Muškat, Sivi Pinot, Rdeči Traminec and had some fun. This gave them some latitude for experimentation. Because they are registered as farmers, they can buy in grapes, but the wines have to be labelled simply as table wines without much more information on the label.
The fermentations in 2022 were very slow, and they lost their Laški completely (it went volatile). They’d noticed that their fermentations had been getting slower. So they began looking at what was happening in the vineyard and why the yeasts weren’t doing their job. They had stopped cutting their cover crop and they took all the prunings out of the vineyard, but they weren’t putting anything back. So now they cut the grass after harvest, and after flowering, and now the fermentations have come back to normal.
They’ve also started using sand and clay eggs, from Oeuf de Beaune. These are river sand and river clay eggs. They came across them in Burgundy. They are thick and are designed as a neutral vessel. The Šipon (Furmint) spent 6 months in these to finish the fermentation.

Roka RM 2022 Jeruzalem, Slovenia
Negociant fruit. This is Rumeni Muškat (Gelber Muskateller or yellow Muscat), which would normally be made in a semi sweet way. It is rare to find it made in a dry style, although Andreas Tscheppe makes an amazing one. This was destemmed and macerated for 7 days with some whole berries, and it was pressed (one-third fermentation done) and finished off in stainless steel. Brightly aromatic but not exotic with lovely sweet citrus fruit and some table grape hints. Lovely spicy hints with nice citrus drive and a bit of structure. This is so pretty and it’s a versatile gastronomic wine, too, with its nice acidity. Such precision, but also some charm. 93/100
Roka RM 2024 Jeruzalem (tank sample)
Negociant fruit. They skipped 2023 because it was a difficult vintage. Macerated for 7 days then pressed to stainless steel in the middle of fermentation. Really aromatic with yellow plum and mango fruit as well as some table grape. Dry, structured palate with a lovely tropical, mango character and nice acidity. Shimmering finish. 93/100
Roka T 2023 Jeruzalem, Slovenia (tank sample)
Traminec. They bought 400 kg of grapes and pressed them in a small bladder press going overnight. They got 50% yield from the grapes. Fermented in an open fermenter (stainless steel). Rich, layered, generous, has sweet melon and table grape fruit, with some yellow plum and a nice depth. Really rich but finishes grainy and fresh. This is complex and broad. 93/100

Roka Furmint 2022 Kog, Slovenia
Estate fruit, 50 year old vines. A ripe year with high sugars. This Furmint took almost two years to finish fermenting. One year in neutral oak (Pauscha) and then six months in Oeuf du Beaune. This is bright, tensile and mineral with crisp citrus fruit and a lovely stony minerality, as well as some salinity. Hints of apple and lime with a lovely acid line. So detailed and precise, this is quite lovely. 95/100
Roka Furmint 2023 Kog (tank sample)
This is in stainless steel at the moment because there wasn’t enough to fill an egg. There was rain at harvest time and Furmint has thin skins so it’s at risk of the berries bursting. They did careful selection, and quantities were down. Pure, compact linear citrus fruit here with a slight chalky, mineral undertow as well as good acidity. Really expressive with a slight grapefruit pith finish. This has great potential. 93/100

Roka Blaufränkisch 2021 Kog
This is from a vineyard planted in 2012 which they own. Spur pruned. They are one of the few who have planted Blaufränkisch here. They are looking for floral fruit with chocolate and smokiness, with good balancing bitterness and acidity. One year in oak then 6 months in stainless steel. Liam thinks that Blaufränkisch and Furmint have a lot in common. Supple, bright and lively with nice red cherry and cranberry notes, as well as a touch of blackberry. Juicy with nice stoniness and good acidity. This has some nice tannins as well as good acidity, and is really refreshing. 93/100

Roka Blaufränkisch 2022 Kog
This was the year of the slow fermentations. One year in oak then a year in egg (1000 litres). It took two years to ferment. This was bottled directly from the egg, and it has quite high CO2 levels, which enhance the sense of freshness. Sweet, bright black cherry and blackberry fruit. There’s a herbal twist there with lovely acidity and some nice bright fruit. This is so appealing with a focus on the fruit and a real sense of freshness, as well as some meaty depth with a twist of olive. 93/100
Roka Blaufränkisch 2023 Kog (tank sample)
This was a small harvest so they didn’t have enough to fill the egg, and this was taken out of oak after a year then put into stainless steel. This will be bottled in May: it hasn’t been sulfured yet. Lovely texture and brightness here with a hint of savoury olive character and lovely black cherry and blackberry fruit with good acidity and a bit of tannic grip. Very fresh and energetic. 94/100
Roka Blaufränkisch 2024 Kog (tank sample)
This was a hot vintage with good quantities. But there were no temperature peaks. This went straight to the egg. This has 10% whole bunch in it. Juicy and bright with lovely fruit and a bit of tannic structure. Has focus and purity and will be really good in time. Love it.