Darrel is an American-born international wine writer, judge and lecturer\u00a0living in Vienna. He specialises in the wine regions of Central, Eastern\u00a0and Southeastern Europe, including Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia
\nand many Balkan countries, and his writing has appeared in international\u00a0publications. With his extensive tasting experience, Darrel judges in international\u00a0wine competitions in Europe, including the renowned Decanter
\nWorld Wine Awards in London. In addition, he conducts numerous wine\u00a0masterclasses, presentations, tastings and lectures throughout Europe.<\/p>\n
When did you first become of aware of Slovenia as a wine\u00a0destination?<\/b>
\nI heard about Slovenia\u2019s wines back in the early 1990s, around the time\u00a0I started to explore Austrian and Hungarian wines in depth. However, I\u00a0began to cover Slovenian wine only around 10 years ago. Until then, I
\nwas preoccupied with the wines of Austria, Hungary and Germany. Then I\u00a0began to spread out and look at other Central and Eastern European wine\u00a0countries; Slovenia, being next door, warranted a closer look. Today, I visit
\nSlovenia for wine purposes approximately 2-3 times per year.<\/p>\n
How is Slovenia\u2019s wine generally perceived by international\u00a0wine professionals?<\/b> THE Slovenia Wine: Top 125 Experiences<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nOverall, if there is a perception of Slovenian wine, it is very positive. There\u00a0are a number of top writers and sommeliers and restaurateurs around\u00a0the world who have become familiar with Slovenia\u2019s wines – some of
\nthe funky \u201corange\u201d wines, for example, and indigenous grape varieties\u00a0like Zelen and Pinela – and indeed they like the quality and individuality\u00a0very much. This is pretty remarkable, considering that it wasn\u2019t too long
\nago that Slovenia was barely heard of, especially when it was a state in\u00a0Yugoslavia. Today, while more and more people are getting to know about\u00a0the wines of Slovenia, many do not even make the Yugoslavia connection
\n(especially the younger generations). Of course, Slovenian wines are still\u00a0relatively unknown on a broad scale. But because Slovenia is a small,\u00a0niche wine producing country with many ambitious, talented producers
\nmaking remarkable wines, its reputation as a quality wine-producing\u00a0country is growing slowly but ever so surely.<\/p>\n