Slovenia · Prekmurje

MAROF

A Goričko estate in Slovenia’s Prekmurje, where Blaufränkisch-led reds and cool-site Chardonnay connect three vineyard sites to distinct bottle styles.

The producer

MAROF began with 15,000 branded bottles in 2007 and opened its cellar beside a renovated mansion in 2009, when Uroš Valcl made his first vintage there. Around Mačkovci in Slovenia’s north-eastern Goričko subregion, the estate works vineyards at Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci, turning a compact group of sites into regional wines and single-vineyard bottlings.

Blaufränkisch accounts for roughly a third of plantings and supplies acidity, tannin and grip to Goričko Noir. At the cooler Kramarovci site, Chardonnay is harvested about two weeks later than neighbouring vines, spends four days on skins and 15 months in large, non-new oak; the resulting dry white has fresh acidity, a firm texture and more weight through the finish.

Known for

Blaufränkisch-led Goričko reds and textured, cool-site Kramarovci Chardonnay.

Notable facts

The story

A wrong turn near the quarry

When Uroš Valcl first came to the unfamiliar Goričko landscape, he got lost. He stopped beside a quarry and came across large blocks of volcanic basalt. The encounter happened before his first MAROF vintage in 2009, while he was finding his way around the far-north-eastern Slovenian region where the estate works vineyards at Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci. Instead of arriving through a tasting room or a cellar door, Valcl’s first striking sight in the area was a quarry, a wrong turn and basalt blocks beside the road.

A wrong turn near the quarry

When Uroš Valcl first came to the unfamiliar Goričko landscape, he got lost. He stopped beside a quarry and came across large blocks of volcanic basalt. The encounter happened before his first MAROF vintage in 2009, while he was finding his way around the far-north-eastern Slovenian region where the estate works vineyards at Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci. Instead of arriving through a tasting room or a cellar door, Valcl’s first striking sight in the area was a quarry, a wrong turn and basalt blocks beside the road.

From the atlas

MAROF

At A Glance

MAROF is a young Slovenian estate in Goričko, the north-eastern part of Prekmurje near Mačkovci and the Austrian and Hungarian borders. Its three vineyard sites, Blaufränkisch-led red wines and cool-site Chardonnay give the range a clear route from regional blends to wines tied to one slope.

The Producer

Entrepreneur Stanko Polanič established MAROF, which released its first 15,000 branded bottles in 2007. Uroš Valcl made his first vintage here in 2009, the year a new cellar opened beside a renovated mansion; the estate’s early move from first release to dedicated cellar put its own labels and long-lived wines at the centre of the work.

Place

MAROF sits in Prekmurje’s Goričko subregion, rather than in one of Slovenia’s better-known western wine areas. The location matters most through its three named sites—Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci—which allow regional Goričko wines to sit beside bottlings that follow one vineyard more closely.

Soil And Site

MAROF cultivates about 100,000 vines across Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci. Kramarovci is the coolest of the three and is harvested around two weeks later than neighbouring vineyards; the longer growing period is a practical reason its Chardonnay can carry fresh acidity alongside a broader, barrel-aged texture.

Story

The estate began with 15,000 bottles in 2007, then opened its new cellar in September 2009 as Valcl started his first harvest. A 2022 profile recorded a later reduction from 45 hectares across the three sites to 22 hectares of selected plots, shifting attention from a larger holding to a smaller set of parcels and their individual wines.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vineyards are cultivated ecologically, while cellar work follows traditional procedures, natural processes and minimal intervention when needed. Spontaneous fermentation and extended ageing appear in the wines with the clearest cellar detail: Kramarovci Chardonnay spends four days on skins, then 15 months in large, non-new oak barrels. Skin contact builds texture; the older, large-format oak supports weight and lees-like depth without requiring overt new-oak flavour.

Blaufränkisch accounts for roughly one-third of MAROF’s plantings, so it supplies the estate’s principal red-grape frame. Its acidity and tannin give Goričko Noir a red-wine structure distinct from the white range, while Chardonnay, Sauvignon and white blends show how the same Goričko landscape can be bottled with different weight and aroma.

Wines

The Goričko wines are MAROF’s regional range: Goričko Noir takes the Blaufränkisch-led red direction, Goričko Blanc gathers white varieties into a broader white, and Goričko Sauvignon isolates a more aromatic grape expression. These are wines of range and grape rather than of a single named vineyard, so fruit, acidity and body are the first distinctions to look for across the labels.

Kramarovci Chardonnay moves to a narrower address. Its cool vineyard, later harvest, four days of skin contact and 15 months in large old oak give it more texture and structural weight than a simple fresh Chardonnay. The 2020 vintage received 93 Falstaff points in the Vinum tasting record, a score that belongs to that vintage rather than to every release.

In The Glass

Start with the shape of the range. Goričko Sauvignon offers the most aromatic white expression, while Goričko Blanc works through blended fruit and a broader palate. Goričko Noir changes the register: Blaufränkisch brings red-wine acidity, tannin and grip, making body and finish more important than perfume alone.

Kramarovci Chardonnay is the slowest-moving wine in the group. Its cool-site acidity keeps the palate dry and lifted, while skin contact and time in large oak add a firmer texture through the middle. Expect fruit to sit within that structure rather than race ahead of it, with oak serving weight and finish instead of sweetness.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Kramarovci Chardonnay when it is available. It is a single-vineyard Chardonnay from MAROF’s coolest site, picked later than nearby vineyards and shaped by four days on skins plus 15 months in large, non-new oak. The result is a dry white with acidity, texture and weight in the same glass, making its vineyard and cellar choices easy to taste together.

Anecdote

When Uroš Valcl first came to the unfamiliar Goričko landscape, he got lost. He stopped beside a quarry and found large blocks of volcanic basalt there. The encounter came before his first MAROF vintage in 2009, when he was still learning the estate’s far-north-eastern corner of Slovenia. Valcl had arrived to make wine among the vineyards around Mačkovci, Bodonci and Kramarovci; instead, his first vivid encounter with the area was a quarry, a wrong turn and basalt blocks at the roadside.

Final Word

MAROF is most revealing when its regional Goričko wines are set beside Kramarovci Chardonnay: Blaufränkisch gives the reds acidity and tannin, while the cooler Chardonnay site and longer cellar work bring texture and weight to a dry white.

Sources

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