Laški Rizling

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Laški Rizling, the name current in slovenia, serbia, and some other parts of the former Yugoslavia for the white grape variety known in Austria as welschriesling (under which name more details and more of its many synonyms appear). The vine is cultivated most successfully in the higher vineyards of Slovenia (just over the border from the spirited Welschrieslings of styria), and Fruška Gora in Serbia, where it can produce equally crisp and delicately aromatic wines. Few of these superior examples have been exported, however, whereas for decades in the second half of the 20th century a Slovenian brand, Lutomer Riesling (eventually renamed Lutomer Laški Rizling after German lobbying), was the best-selling white wine in the UK, its heavily sweetened style conveying little of the intrinsic character of the variety. The Rizling Vlassky is the variant known in the czech republic.