Why it matters
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.
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.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
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.
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.
In the cellar
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 to know
The range in view
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.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
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.