Gravner

Joško Gravner is a forefather of the natural wine movement. His skin-contact, orange or amber wines paved the way for a trend that has swept around the globe. 

The Gravner family has been based in eastern Friuli for over 300 years. In 1901, the family purchased the property in the village of Oslavia that it still uses today. This region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but after its dissolution the village sat on the Italian side of the region’s border with Slovenia, although is arguably culturally closer to the latter, and the estate has vineyards in both countries. Back when there was a hard border between the nations, they would need to pass through checkpoints to farm the entire property. 

Joško Gravner worked with his father from the age of 14 and took over the estate aged 21, in 1973. He was a young man with ideas of modernisation and introduced new equipment, replacing his father’s wooden casks with stainless steel tanks, and even started using French barriques. Over time, however, he became disillusioned with the wines he was making and the methods employed. A trip to Napa in 1987 was pivotal, filling him with disdain for what he saw as overly manipulated, industrial wines. 

In 1996 – when hail destroyed almost all his crop – he decided to experiment with the remainder, feeling he had nothing to lose. He liked the results and started playing with skin contact, macerating the fruit in large wooden barrels. He went to Georgia in 2000 in search of qvevri, terracotta amphorae that he buried in the ground and used from the 2001 vintage. He stopped using chemical fertilizers, moved to organic and then biodynamic farming, using a basket press rather than pneumatic press, exclusively indigenous yeast, avoiding temperature control, and reverting back to large, old oak casks for maturation, as well as adding no sulphur whatsoever in vinification. Soon the wines started earning local then international acclaim, developing cult status – especially among the growing natural wine movement. 

Today the property comprises 32 hectares, with 15 dedicated to vines, all farmed biodynamically. There’s a strong focus on culturing biodiversity with ponds and trees in amongst the vines. The estate sits in the Collio Goriziano or Collio region, with the wines all labelled under the Venezia Giulia appellation. The make-up of the vineyards has shifted over the years, especially as Gravner has moved away from the use of international varieties, but is heavily dominated by Ribolla Gialla (representing around 85%), with the native red grape Pignolo. 

The estate has vines in the Dedno, Hum and Runk vineyards (Runk on the Italian side, with Dedno and Hum on the Slovenian side), having pulled up the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in Pusca, the Chardonnay in Polje, the Pinot Grigio in Godenza and the Pinot Grigio and Riesling Italico in Bracnik, using the land instead for forest and grazing. 

Gravner’s flagship wine is the Ribolla Gialla, macerated for six months on its skins in amphorae, then pressed off and put back into amphorae for another six months, then aged for six years in cask prior to bottling. A Riserva Ribolla is bottled in certain vintages, made with a selection of fruit, made in the same way as the “straight” Ribolla, but aged for longer in bottle prior to release. The property also produced a one-off single-vineyard bottling of Ribolla Gialla from the Runk vineyard in 2003 (planted in 1915 and 1950), before the vines were pulled up, bottled exclusively in magnum. 

The property has produced various other whites: Bianco Breg (a blend of Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling Italico and Chardonnay, fermented on skins separately in amphorae, blended, then aged in cask, with the last vintage 2012); a Pinot Grigio made in certain vintages (including 2001, 2006 and 2007) and aged in bottle prior to release; and Bianco Sivi (a selection of Pinot Grigio made in certain vintages including 2006, 2007 and 2009). There was also a one-off late-harvest, botrytised Ribolla Gialla, made with a blend of fruit from the 2008, 2009 and 2010 vintages. Fermented in amphora, aged in small oak and bottled in 2015, only 1,200 bottles of the wine, labelled as “Otto. Nove. Dieci.” or 8.9.10. 

As for reds, the estate currently only produces Rosso Breg, made with the indigenous Pignolo grape, fermented in amphorae and aged in Slavonian oak for five years, then aged nine additional years in bottle prior to release. The variety is intensely tannic, sometimes compared to a super-charged Nebbiolo, but is tamed by Gravner’s ageing methods, and this rare red is highly sought-after. 

Previously, the property made Rosso Gravner, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Rosso Rujno was made in exceptional years (including 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008), with the same blend as the Rosso Gravner, aged for seven years in barrel and seven in bottle – a tribute to the number of years it takes for the entire human body’s cells to regenerate. 

After experimenting in the 2016 vintage, Gravner started using whole-bunch fermentation across his range in 2017, and is looking to use glass for some of the maturation process. 

Joško Gravner had been working with his son Miha, priming him to take over the estate, however Miha died tragically in a motorcycle accident, aged just 27. Gravner’s daughter Mateja returned to the estate and now helps with operations and export, while her son Gregor is now working with Joško. 

Gravner’s “amber” wines (using his preferred term) have inspired producers around the world, iconic age-worthy styles that are – along with those of neighbouring Radikon – prized, especially among natural wine aficionados.