The Simčič family had been farming the hills of Goriška Brda decades before Edi and his wife Marica bottled their first vintage in 1989. Today, their son Aleks and grandsons Jure and Jakob tend 13 hectares of steep, sun-drenched slopes across three villages, farming sustainably on the region’s signature opoka soils featuring layers of calcareous sandstone, marl, and clay that lend a distinctive salinity. Yields average just 700 grams per vine, around a half-bottle per plant.

Edi Simčič’s sauvignon blanc is fermented with native yeasts and aged entirely in French oak barriques (roughly 20% new) with no temperature control. The fruit comes from vines between 22 and 35 years old in the village of Kozana. It’s always the earliest harvest on the estate, picked by hand at the end of August, then aged 11 months in barrel and 6 months in bottle. The cooler, rainier 2023 is rather plucky, with notes of elderflower, green almond, and wet stone, and a flinty, almost smoky haze to the finish. About 2,530 bottles produced.