Gravner - Ribolla Gialla Anfora 2015 (750ml)

The Friuli master of white wine. 
Ever wonder where maceration of white wine started in the modern age? With Josko Gravner.

See why he is the best. 

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. Long a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Collio Goriziano/Goriška Brda has, since being razed in the First World War, been traded between Italy, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia, and Slovenia. From 18 ha of vineyards in these contested hills planted to Ribolla Gialla and Pignolo (Gravner recently ripped up his international varieties), Gravner makes some of the most compelling and thought-provoking wines we have ever encountered.

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. His wines, often lumped in with other skin-contact wines that have become popular in his wake, stand apart. Long aged, long lived, and profound, we invite you to discover the magic that can be bottled in Italy’s Northeasternmost corner.

Exclusively composed of the local Ribolla grape; fermented in Georgian amphorae buried underground; long maceration with wild yeasts and no temperature control; after fermentation, the wine rests again in amphorae for five more months and then is aged in large oak barrels for an additional six years; bottled without fining or filtering. This is a deeply personal creation of Joško Gravner that captures the essence of Ribolla in a way no other versions do—notes of white truffles and quince paste frame a strikingly mineral-led aromatic profile, with a kinetic sense of acidity and chiseled energy on the palate; gorgeous right now it will undoubtedly reveal its secrets gradually over the years to come.

The 2015 Ribolla Gialla Anfora is sweetly alluring, with a complex and heady blend of orange blossoms, raw honey, mint leaf, earl grey, dried apricots and peaches. It smooths over the palate with oily textures, lifted by a core of nervous acidity. Tart orchard fruits swirl throughout and are complicated by a mouthwatering twist of tangerine. The 2015 lingers impossibly long, spicy and wickedly fresh, mixing candied ginger with lemon sorbet, hints of butterscotch and exotic inner florals. The 2015 is a rich wine of contrasts and tension.