Vinous

PDO · Appellation profile

Dolenjska

272,204 haProduction zone
11Wines in the rules
16.2 °CGrowing season · intermediate
IbWinkler region

What is made here

Wine colours

Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.

Where it is

Dolenjska in Slovenia

Latitude
45.6°–46.1° N
Vineyard altitude
215 m to 476 m
Production zone
272,204 ha

Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.

Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.

01 · What the law says

The rules

Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Dolenjska must meet.

11 wines in the rules, all colours.
WineMax wine
hl/ha
Must weight
min.
Grape ripeness
min. % pot. alc.
Actual alc.
min. %
Dry extract
min. g/l
Dolenjska kakovostno vino ZGP 80–8.5–17
Dolenjska kakovostno peneče vino ZGP (penina) 80––1017
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP 8084 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – pozna trgatev 8091 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – izbor 80102 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – jagodni izbor 80127 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – suhi jagodni izbor 80154 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – ledeno vino 80127 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – arhivsko vino 8083 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko vino ZGP – slamno vino 8084 °Oe––17
Dolenjska vrhunsko peneče vino ZGP (penina) 80––10.517

From the official production rules (national product specification, via the EU register). Hover a figure to see the clause it comes from. A dash means the rules set no figure, or it is not captured yet.

Other varieties allowed

Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.

25 varieties · Dolenjska kakovostno peneče vino ZGP (penina), Dolenjska vrhunsko peneče vino ZGP (penina)

Bela Zlahtnina, Beli Pinot, Chardonnay, Dišeci Traminec, Gamay, Kerner, Kraljevina, Laški Rizling, Modra Frankinja, Modri Pinot, Portugalka, Radgonska Ranina, Ranfol, Rdeca Zlahtnina, Renski Rizling, Rumeni Muškat, Rumeni Plavec, Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe, Sivi Pinot, Traminec, Zametovka, Zeleni Silvanec, Zweigelt, Šentlovrenka

02 · Climate fingerprint

The climate

The growing season averages 16.2 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,347 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).

The average year  1991–2020, vineyards at about 321 m

Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
0.4° 61 Jan 1.7° 73 Feb 5.9° 74 Mar 10.5° 88 Apr 15.0° 108 May 19.0° 108 Jun 21.1° 100 Jul 20.9° 106 Aug 15.9° 118 Sep 11.1° 104 Oct 6.1° 106 Nov 1.2° 87 Dec
Growing-season temperature
16.2 °C
Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
Growing degree days
1,347
Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
Growing-season rain
731 mm
Of 1,132 mm a year
Harvest rain
222 mm
September–October

Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 249 m; Vineyard point 2, 456 m; Vineyard point 3, 259 m; Vineyard point 4, 255 m; Vineyard point 5, 385 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.

Closest climates in the database

Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.

1. Pouilly-FuisséVery similarCompared with Dolenjska: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Saint-AmourVery similarCompared with Dolenjska: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Saint-VéranVery similarCompared with Dolenjska: same season warmth, similar rain.

Growing-season temperature

Dolenjska
16.2 °C
Pouilly-Fuissé
16.2 °C
Saint-Amour
16.3 °C
Saint-Véran
16.1 °C

Growing degree days

Dolenjska
1,347
Pouilly-Fuissé
1,343
Saint-Amour
1,361
Saint-Véran
1,325

Growing-season rain

Dolenjska
731 mm
Pouilly-Fuissé
706 mm
Saint-Amour
718 mm
Saint-Véran
712 mm

03 · Year by year

35 vintages

Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.

Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 222 mm
2025
Growing-season temp.
Growing degree days
Harvest rain
Growing-season rain
September nights
Hot days and frosts

Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.

04 · Where the numbers come from

Sources

  1. A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
  2. ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
  3. OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
  4. Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
  5. Product specification: Dolenjska (SPECIFIKACIJA PROIZVODA- Dolenjska.doc) · National authority, as filed in the EU register (eAmbrosia) · Official document
  6. Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
  • Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
  • From the specification: Permitted varieties (section 6) begin with Laški rizling, Beli pinot, Sivi pinot, Chardonnay and Zeleni silvanec (17 white, 8 red including Modra frankinja and Žametovka). Products follow the traditional terms (quality wine, quality sparkling wine, top-quality wine with its late-harvest, selection, berry selection, dry berry selection, ice wine, archive wine and straw wine mentions, top-quality sparkling wine); colours are not separated. The yield limit is 8,000 litres of wine per hectare. Sugar-free extract must be at least 17 g/l for white and rosé and 20 g/l for red wines; glycerol at least 5 g/l; ash at least 1.2 (white), 1.4 (rosé) and 1.6 g/l (red). Top-quality wine (vrhunsko vino) may not be enriched, sweetened, acidified or deacidified; straw wine has no own must weight, so the 84 °Oe of vrhunsko vino is recorded. Sparkling cuvées need at least 9 % vol (quality) or 9.5 % vol (top-quality) total alcohol; the method is not fixed. Wines need an organoleptic score of at least 16. The description's red-and-white blend (Žametovka, Modra frankinja, Kraljevina, Laški rizling) requires at least 65 % red and at least 25 % white varieties.
  • National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.