Visit to Radikon and Gravner
I and my wife managed to get an appointment with Radikon before visiting Gr avner. IT was a beautiful farmhouse, where the husband and son was fixing a car in front. We started looking at the vineyards on slopes facing mostly south. The soil was dark and grassy. They use biodynamic methods, without the paperwork of certification. They spray sulphur on the plants, but dont add it to the wines. They harvest by hand and select the grapes. We could wave at Gravner from there. They do the winemaking in the cold cellars, in conventional casks. Natural fermentation. Months of skincontakt, oak casks later, no filtration. No sul phur added They made sure we know they were the first to revive orange wines, not grav ner. The first Jakot was 1995 and Gravner started their change after a comp lete fiasco harvest in 1996. For the taste we had not the Jakot, but different vintages of Oslavje (char d,sauvignon, pinot grigio), Fuiri del tempo (their reserve), and merlot, wh ich is the best merlot I ever had.
Radikon Oslavje 2013 *** Licorice, dry sherry, nuts and rough texture, dry fruits, a bit sour.
Oslavje 2005 **** Evidence that their wines are meant for storage (despite the lack of sulphu r). Much mellower, teh tanins are still there but integrated a lot, not sour an ymore. Tondonia remembrance, cinnamin, spicy, toffee yummy.
Oslavje Fuori del tempo 2001 ***** (a white that gets 5 stars? oh wow)
60% chard, 40% Sauv. Blanc. Only made in good years. Vey tannic still! its 14 years old. lush and creamy reminding more of the better red burgundies Ive tasted.2001 Merlot ****+ Bricking, toffee, borken fruits like I like it, some sandy tannins. surpris ingly good for a merlot. a bit sherry/colheita port notes. In 0.5liter bott les.
They were all above 50Euro for 0.5liter. I bought the merlot. The tempo was 85E for 0.5L It was funny how private the atmosphere was. it was all a mess and the lady couldnt find anything. The place was a home where they had set up a busine ss. When we got tehre we werent sure it was the right place.
Gravner
--------- This place was very neat and minimalistic in comparison. the lady that met us was very stylish and formal. We overlooked the valley of BRDA, which is the Slovenian part of Collio. She explained the failed harvest of 1996 as t he key to their change into making only Rebula amfora wines (in 2020 its th e end of other types). The wine maker found resemblance with other grapes, eating them and the taste in wines, but not in rebula. so he made trails th at year to find a winemaking process that mirrors the taste of the grape in the wine. They are also biodynamic wihtout certification. We saw the huge amforas from georgian clay - almsot 2 meters tall. we saw the cellar, where they are totally buried. She explained white wines can macerate longer tha n red wines this way. I felt in awe standing there in top those clay amforas. I've seen wineries many times and its all the same, but this was so new to me. A big squared r oom, with tops of amfora sticking up the gravel ground in a grid pattern an d windows on one wall and a lonly chair in the middle of the room. IT takes 3 weeks to change an amfora and they have to be careful not to shift the n eighbouring amforas. After amforas it is the oak barrels - now it looks normal again. Tehy add s ulphur twice in teh production. before barrels and before bottling. No fil tration. but they make them cleaner than radikon. For tasting we went into this minimalistic clean room with funny homemade g lasses. She served 2 wines:
2007 Bianco Breg *** Mixed grapes (Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio) - so thi s wont exist in the future Amber color. she dislike the term orange wine - as that is the term for a t oo old wine thats dead. Anis, mellow, melted condied apples.2007 Ribula **** Elegant, honeyed stewed apples, tannic finish, mineral, meaty. Bought this one. They were 50E each for 75cl bottles. Gravner wines were much subtler, and whitewiny than radikon, so I actually prefer Radikon's messy and violent style. I find it funny how the messy/ele gant style of the physical grounds are mirrored in the wines.