Gravner, Ribolla, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, 2016

Overview of the Wine
We are located in the Collio, precisely in Oslavia, a hamlet of the municipality of Gorizia located near the border between Italy and Slovenia. Here the Gravner family has been growing the vine since 1901, when Josko's grandfather started a small agricultural business. In 1970 Josko took over the reins of the company, introducing the first stainless steel barrels to the cellar, later replaced by oak barrels. Starting with the 1996 harvest, marked by two disastrous hailstorms that compromise over 90% of the grape harvest, Gravner began to experiment with the technique of maceration on the skins for white wines, and in 2000 he switched to winemaking in terracotta amphorae. As for agronomic management, Josko has renounced the use of synthetic chemicals in the vineyard for over thirty years, in order to preserve the health of the soil and the integrity of the ecosystem.

Winemaker
Joško Gravner

Grape / Blend
100% Ribolla Gialla

Origin
Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Gravner’s cellar methodology for the indigenous Ribolla is simple, if extreme: bunches, harvested by hand, are transferred by gravity into subterranean amphorae, where they macerate for several weeks; the wine is then pressed and moved back into amphorae for five months, then transferred to large Slavonian casks (all well used) for six years before bottling, with nothing added along the way except trace amounts of sulfur, and without fining or filtration of any kind. The wine rests several more years in bottle in Gravner’s deep storage cellar before being released to an adoring public.
 
98 Points - Orazio Campoli
Josko Gravner is the undisputed godfather of the modern amber wine movement, the visionary who famously abandoned modern technology to return to the ancient roots of winemaking. His wines from Oslavia, on the border of Slovenia, are the benchmark against which all other skin-contact wines are measured. Fermented on the skins in buried Georgian amphorae (qvevri) for months before spending six years aging in large oak casks, it smells ancient and alive all at once. The 2016 vintage, in particular, possesses a rare, crystalline clarity; it opens with a meditative bouquet of dried chamomile, honeycomb, and incense, yet there is a vertical energy here that feels younger than its years. On the palate, the signature "meaty" texture is present, but it’s the saline, mineral core hat provides the drive. This is the benchmark of the category, especially 2016.

Product size: 750ml