Rogovila Wines
Orehovica, Slovenia (Vipava Valley)
Rogovila was the brainchild of David Bratož, a tongue in cheek joke referencing the tool used to cut & move tall grass, as well as a local slang for a crazy drunkard. With just a few small plots of land and a few well worn barrels in the cellar he thought it might be fun to make a few barrels of wine. Upon meeting David, we didn't even know he was a winemaker until we had tasted several of his neighbors bottles, of which he sung high praise. Unfortunately David passed away in November of 2025, however his wife Lara and their daughter Lana are ready to keep the Rogovila label alive and moving forward.
The vines are the real deal: old parcels in the Vipava Valley, some sixty years old, perched between 160 and 250 meters on schist, clay, and sandstone. All vineyards are farmed organically — too small to bother with certification, as David put it — and intervention as little as the vintage allows. In the cellar, everything runs on its own: spontaneous fermentation, gentle skin maceration on the whites, a year in old oak, no filtration, and just a whisper of sulfur at bottling.
The wines — whether Rebula, or the rare Pinela, a supple Barbera — share one signature: they're seriously alive, fresh, and elegant, with none of the heaviness or faulty aspects that can be present in wines crafted in the "garagista" style.
IMPORTED SELECTIONS
Pinela
Rebula
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