The Brut 8 (2019) from the Seven Numbers line by the Puklavec Family Wines estate in Ormož, Slovenia, is an excellent sparkling wine. It is crafted from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with a touch of Šipon, the local name for the variety known globally as Furmint. Aged for five years on fine lees following the secondary fermentation in the bottle, it offers a freshness derived from its pronounced minerality and pairs beautifully with oysters. As the name suggests, the range is called Seven Numbers, yet this impressive sparkling wine bears the number eight on its label.
It was a wonderful introduction to the presentation of eight wines from this winery led by sommelier Darko Lugarić and head winemaker Luka Radiček, Croatian oenologist with prior experience at Badel, Daruvar, and Orahovica. Seven Numbers represents the winery's elite wine category. Each wine is crafted from grapes sourced from a different vineyard, all sharing the common trait of being situated in prime locations.
Premiere of Šipon 2024
The Šipon Seven Numbers 2024 is one such wine. It marked a sort of premiere, having been on the market for only about ten days; it was aged for 10 months in used 500 and 1000 liter barrels. It is a free-run wine, meaning the grapes were not pressed. Instead, only the juice that drained naturally from the berries was used. It offers lovely aromas of ripe apple, yellow flowers, and primrose, with a pleasantly mineral taste and a very attractive price point of 14 euros.
The Seven Numbers Pinot Gris 2022 was also a big hit. It has a coppery hue, typical for some Pinot Gris wines, and an intense aroma of ripe apple followed by pear. Aged on fine lees, it nonetheless retains a beautiful minerality that manifests as a pleasantly salty taste. This enduring freshness lingers in a wine that seems tailor-made for dishes featuring premium mushrooms, a simple pan-seared veal steak, or breaded chicken. And we’re talking about real domestic chicken here, not the puny 1.5-kilogram variety. Proper chickens peck around the yard and are slaughtered at a weight of three to three-and-a-half kilograms.
Sauvignon as it should be
Next up was the Seven Numbers Sauvignon 2022. The grapes were harvested in three separate passes to capture green, floral, and fruity notes. The nose is very restrained, it doesn't hit you with the kind of pungency that makes you instinctively turn your head away from the glass, while the palate is ripe and leans more towards fruit than grassiness.
The 2021 White Cuvée 34 is another excellent dry wine, golden-yellow in color, with an intense aroma and full body. It is produced only in the best vintages using late-harvest grapes from six varieties: Laški Rizling, Rhine Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. It features a golden-yellow hue and an intense, vinous aroma, pleasant yet difficult to pin down, along with a robust body and a warm, distinctly mineral taste.
Three Women and the 1983
Pinot Blanc Trois femmes (meaning three women) is a wine not available for general retail sale. It was crafted by three female sommeliers for the Jeunes Restaurateurs association, which comprises over 400 restaurants and 160 hotels. It is a cosmopolitan blend of Šipon, Chardonnay and Rhine Riesling. We also tasted an excellent, lively, and spirited 1983 Pinot Blanc, followed by the 2023 Seven Numbers Late Harvest Traminac as a sweet finale.
Puklavec Family Wines manages 470 hectares of its own vineyards and leases another 130. This Slovenian family winery thus cultivates an area roughly equal to that of Belje and Laguna, which rank among the largest producers in Croatia. Puklavec bottles wines under as many as 70 different labels across various price points, though they do plan to reduce this number. In recent years, they have increasingly focused on sparkling wines. Their portfolio includes three sparkling wines produced using the traditional (Champagne) method, alongside several Charmat-method sparkling wines, which undergo secondary fermentation in tanks. Winemaker Darija Peček oversees the production of these sparkling wines.
Regular International Recognition
Their wine archive is also impressive, housing 250,000 bottles. Each year, they sell between five and ten thousand bottles, adding an equivalent number of new ones to the archive; they state that they lack the space for a larger collection. They regularly win awards at global competitions. Recent accolades include the title of Best Slovenian Winery at the 2024 Austrian Wine Challenge (AWC) in Vienna and at Mundus Vini 2025 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, located in Germany's renowned Pfalz wine region.
Seven Numbers is their premium line of wines made from free-run juice, meaning no pressing is involved. The grapes come from seven of their best vineyard sites, with each wine originating from a specific plot. The Šipon sparkling wine is number one, the still Sauvignon Blanc is two, Pinot Grigio is three, Chardonnay is four, Rosé is six, Furmint is seven, and the Brut sparkling wine is eight. The line also includes a Traminer and an Icewine. The labels are very similar but do not feature the numbers. At least a portion of each wine has been aged briefly in wooden barrels, and they offer excellent value for money, with bottle prices ranging from 14 to 17 euros.
The Archive Collection Comes at a Premium
The White Cuvée 34 is slightly more expensive, at 22 euros. The number in its name pays tribute to the year 1934, when Martin Puklavec became the manager of the Ljutomer-Ormož wine cooperative, an event that laid the foundation for today’s Puklavec Family Wines winery. Naturally, the archive wines are the most expensive. The featured 1983 Pinot Blanc comes in the classic 0.7-liter bottle and is priced at 100 euros.