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The first records of wine production in Goricko go back as far as the year 1627. At that time, vineyards were mostly situated around churches and on slopes with the best sun exposure. The Goricko winegrowers first achieved an international reputation in 1840, when the Vienna court proclaimed the wine of one of its vineyards the best central-European wine. After World War I, many winegrowers found themselves in a difficult situation and more and more land was left uncultivated. In the 1980's, winegrowing enthusiasts started purchasing the uncultivated land and Goricko experienced a rebirth of its winegrowing tradition. The greatest recognition came in 1984, when a Sauvignon from Goricko won the gold medal at an international agricultural fair. Today there are 600 hectares of vineyards in the area and almost forty different wine bottlers who offer an assortment of more than a hundred different quality and high-quality wines; including auslese, trockembeerenauslese and ice wines. The Goricko Winegrowing Centre in Ivanovci holds friendly meetings for European winegrowers and coordinates the promotion and collaboration of member winegrowers. Local inns offer a good selection of wines and traditional Prekmurje dishes, but if you are interested in wine tasting and purchasing, set out for the wine shops and wine cellars along the Goricko Wine Tourist Road. The landscape exudes peace and unspoiled natural beauty, and the friendliness of the locals will cast a spell on you even before the wine does. The characteristics of Goricko wine are an agreeable freshness, palatability, refined bouquet and fullness of taste. A wine lover is faced with a serious dilemma when forced to choose between the many excellent Goricko wines - should it be Welsch Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Rhine Riesling, Sauvignon or a bottle of each? Perhaps the rattling of the klopotec, a large wooden device put in the vineyards by the winegrowers to scare away birds, may take their minds off the problem. This unique device is only built in Slovenia and is a symbol of the joyful time when the winegrowers are proudly expecting their hard work to be repaid with a good grape harvest. A popular social event of Goricko winegrowers involves the setting up of a giant klopotec at the humorous Winegrowing Games in Dobrovnik, which take place every August and attract people from Prekmurje, Croatia and Hungary. The klopotec is left up until St. Martin's Day when the arrival of the new wine is celebrated.