Gravner

Josko Gravner's Ribolla Gialla is not only a captivating, class-defining and intimate white wine, but also the one that has made him a cult winemaker and which can be found on every cutting-edge wine list around the globe. Every sip offers unfathomable depth, intrigue and heady opulence, revealing new dimensions of flavour with every passing hour. With more than 50 vintages to his name, nobody but Josko knows how much longer he will continue to make wine. That's why we always recommend buying these rare wines whilst you still can!

At the turn of the millennium, Josko Gravner travelled to Georgia, the cradle of viticulture. What he saw there – clay amphorae buried in the ground, filled with grape must left to rest on the skins for months – turned everything he had previously known about wine on its head. Back in Oslavia, on the Slovenian border, he abandoned modern winemaking techniques and started from scratch. Since then, he has not referred to his wines as "orange wine" – a term he considers too trendy. He calls them "amber wines".

"The wine must be nurtured until it is ready to face the world on its own." Mateja Gravner, Josko's daughter, describes the estate's philosophy more precisely than any technical specification ever could: every wine is a child that is raised until it can embody its own soul and character. For his 2016 Ribolla Gialla, this meant: hand-harvesting in the Dedno vineyard, Alberello training, and biodynamic cultivation. After gentle pressing, the grapes are transferred to deeply buried Georgian qvevris, sealed with solid granite lids. There, in the darkness of the earth, spontaneous fermentation begins – without temperature control, without selected yeasts, on the skins for seven months. After the amphora comes six years in large Slavonian botti, followed by half a year of bottle ageing. No fining, no filtration.

In the vast universe of Italian wine, we can name only a few red wines that inspire as much fascination, even awe, as those of Josko Gravner. And so Rosso Breg should not be missing from our list of Italy's greatest red wines. Today's 2009 fermented for more than a year on its skins in wooden barrels, then in underground amphorae, after which it matured for five years in barrel and five more in bottle before being released. And yet it is the youngest red wine ever released from Josko's cellar!

Even if you consider yourself a Josko Gravner disciple, there is a good chance that you have never tasted or seen his epic red wine. Rujno is Josko Gravner's rarest and most age-worthy red wine: unlike the pure Rosso, Rujno matures twice as long and is only produced in exceptional vintages in vanishingly small quantities. It comes from a single old vineyard on the edge of Slovenia and consists mainly of Merlot with a dash of Cabernet, which matured for 84 months in the barrel and a further 84 months in the bottle before leaving the cellar. In total, over 15 years passed before it was released onto the market.

Even if you consider yourself a Josko Gravner disciple, there is a good chance that you have never tasted or seen his epic red wine. Rujno is Josko Gravner's rarest and most age-worthy red wine: unlike the pure Rosso, Rujno matures twice as long and is only produced in exceptional vintages in vanishingly small quantities. It comes from a single old vineyard on the edge of Slovenia and consists mainly of Merlot with a dash of Cabernet, which matured for 84 months in the barrel and a further 84 months in the bottle before leaving the cellar. In total, over 15 years passed before it was released onto the market.

Even if you consider yourself a Josko Gravner disciple, there is a good chance that you have neither tasted nor seen his epic red wine. Rujno is Josko Gravner's rarest and most age-worthy red wine: unlike pure Rosso, Rujno ages twice as long and is only produced in exceptional vintages in vanishingly small quantities. It comes from a single old vineyard on the edge of Slovenia and consists mostly of Merlot with a dash of Cabernet, aged for over 84 months in barrel and another 84 months in bottle before leaving the cellar. In total, more than 15 years passed before it was brought to market.