土壌

The Vipava Valley is a dried-up bay of what was once the sea. This is also reflected in the increased minerality of Vipava wines. Vipava lies between the steep, picturesque, mainly limestone cliffs of the Trnovo plateau in the north and the Karst in the south. It comprises a flat valley floor, the Vipava hills and hilltops. Forests cover one third of the surface of the Vipava Valley. Vipava is characterised by its considerable geographical diversity, with its altitude stretching from 45 to 1,495 metres above sea level (Mali Golak).

Vipava is built up by sediments of Eocene flysch. The main part of the soil was formed 55-30 million years ago. It is an alternation of quartz-limestone sandstone and lapis lazuli (soudan). The flysch, which consists mainly of lapis lazuli, is called ‘opoka’. On the northern edge of the Vipava towards the Trnovo plateau, the flysch is covered in places with limestone clasts and rubble. In the area of the flysch, characteristic soil forms have developed: rheniferous soil, brown saturated soil, brown washed soil and pseudo-charred soil. Micro-organisms, fossils from the former Cretaceous and Eocene sea, are the rich nutrients and form the character of today’s Vipava soil.