Žametovka

Žametovka (also known as Ametovka and Kavčina črna) is a red Slovenian wine grape variety. This is one of the oldest domesticated grape varieties in Slovenian. Formerly it was popular in Styrian vineyards, and even more so, even today, known in Dolenjska in southeast Slovenia - from the reddish wine cviček. It produces a wine of pure red color. A single vine of Žametovka growing in the Slovenian town of Maribor is estimated by the Guinness Book of Records to be the oldest living vine still producing fruit in the world at over 400 years of age.

The vine growing in Maribor is part of the frontage of Old Vine House (Hiša stare trte) located in the Lent neighborhood along the Drava river. Paintings of the house kept at the Štajerska Provincial Museum in Graz show the vine growing at least as early as 1657. In 1972, the vine was tested by a Paris laboratory with its age confirmed to be over 400 years. During its life, the Maribor vine survived the Ottoman–Habsburg wars that affected the entire region, Napoleon's invasion and rule of the Illyrian Provinces, the phylloxera epidemic that devastated Vitis vinifera vines across the continent as well as World War I and World War II.

Each vintage the Maribor vine produces enough fruit to make around 25 liters of wine that gets bottled in small 250ml bottles and given by the city council of Maribor as ceremonial gifts to dignitaries with former United States president Bill Clinton being the recipient of one such bottle.Pope Benedict XVI, Emperor Akihito of Japan and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have also received bottles of Žametovka wine produced from the Maribor vine.

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