Gravner Ribolla 2008 Venezia Giulia IGT
Gravner Ribolla 2008 Venezia Giulia IGT – alternate view 2
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Gravner Ribolla 2008 Venezia Giulia IGT

Gravner
$180.00

Grape: Ribolla Gialla
Vintage: 2008
Type: Orange

This orange wine is crafted from the indigenous ribolla gialla grape, harvested late in a rainy season that promoted noble rot. Josko Gravner gathered the primary crop in late October, followed by a final select batch affected by botrytis in late November. The fruit undergoes a long skin maceration during a spontaneous wild yeast fermentation inside subterranean Georgian amphorae. The liquid is pressed and returned to clay for five months before aging six years in large neutral Slavonian oak barrels.

It pours a deep amber-copper color, releasing complex aromas of dried apricot, honey, orange peel, and wild mountain herbs. On the palate, the full-bodied framework balances a rich texture with a sharp line of limestone acidity. Savory flavors of walnut shell, sourdough bread, and an oxidative character seamlessly wrap around a dense mouthfeel. A firm, chalky tannin structure builds across the tongue from the clay contact.

Long aged, long lived, and profound, we invite you to discover the magic that can be bottled in Italy’s North easternmost corner.

I make wines for myself. What’s left—I sell.’ Josko Gravner

In the hills above Gorizia, in sight of both the Julian Alps and the Adriatic, Joško Gravner’s family has made wine in the neighboring villages of Hum and Oslavia for generations.

Oslavia is a small hamlet near the town of Gorizia in the Friuli region, situated on the Collio.

The estate has a a total surface area of 32 hectares, of which 18 hectares are currently vineyards. The remaining land comprises woods, meadows and ponds.

A highly acclaimed producer of technical, stylish Friulian wines early in his career, Joško underwent a crisis of faith in the mid-1990’s, realizing that he simply didn’t enjoy drinking his own wines anymore. The story of his perilous journey into the Caucasus mountains and his encounters with millennia-old Georgian viticultural traditions has been well told by now, but it is not an exaggeration to say that Gravner is among those who prevented millennia-old vinicultural practices from disappearing from his homeland.

“Little by little I started getting rid of all the extra equipment I had bought, starting with steel wine tanks and ending with barrique barrels. I don't think it is possible that, over the last few decades, five thousand years of winemaking history have been erased so easily.”