Brewing and Winemaking in the Škofja Loka Area in the Middle Ages

As part of this year's European Cultural Heritage Days, marked by the theme Bon Apetit!, and the Naša kuhna project our archeology curator Jože Štukl is preparing a lecture in which he will try to shed light on the beginnings of brewing and winemaking in the Škofja Loka Seigniory. Both activities have a centuries-old tradition. If we have the greatest flourishing of brewing in the villages on Sorško polje witnessed in the 12th century, the mentioned activity completely died out by the end of the 14th century.

In the Middle Ages, Škofja Loka and its surroundings were also wine-growing districts. Here, vines were grown on manor vineyards in the city surroundings and in Stažišče near Kranj. However, since the Freising diocese also had its estates in the Dolenjska region and Loka wine could not compete with the local wines, during the 16th century, viticulture on the territory of the Loka lordship was abandoned.