St Martin's celebrations
Nov 10 2023 - Nov 12 2023 Slovenia
New wine will be celebrated throughout the country around St Martin's Day, observed on 11 November, when according to age-old custom grape must turns into wine.
The biggest and most popular event in honour of St Martin's is held in Maribor, usually attracting up to 20,000 visitors from Slovenia and abroad. This year it will be held on 10 and 11 in Leon Štukelj Square.
In the the south-western winemaking region of Kras, the festivities got under way on 4 November and will be running all the way until 12 November.
The festival in Kras features wines and culinary delights from 80 producers at seven venues across the region and 17 wineries will open their doors to visitors.
This year, the event is going international, linking with St Martin's Festival in the village of Prosecco across the border in Italy which the famous Italian white wine is named after.
Apart from wine tastings and culinary exploits, visitors will be able to enjoy hikes and walks, talks, presentations, and shows and concerts by popular local bands and artists. A free hop-on-hop-off bus will run between the wineries.
Ljubljana will hold its annual Wine Route, with the streets in the heart of the city lined with stalls offering a variety of wines from all over the country to sample, along with savoury and sweet culinary delights.
The event will spread across the Prešeren Square, on to Town Hall and down the Cankar Embankment (Cankarjevo nabrežje). Visitors will be able to choose from more than 350 different wines.
Wine samples will be available in exchange for coupons that can be purchased at info points along the route. These will also sell souvenir tasting glasses.