Gravner
Appellations
History
Gravner, at Oslavia above Gorizia in the Collio, is the estate that ignited the modern skin-contact 'orange wine' movement. Josko Gravner, who took the family estate in hand in 1973 and first won fame for barrique-aged whites, radically changed course from the late 1990s — fermenting his white grapes on the skins in buried Georgian qvevri (terracotta amphorae) and ageing them for years.
The wines — above all a skin-macerated Ribolla Gialla — are amber, tannic, oxidatively-styled and utterly distinctive, and Gravner's example inspired a generation of natural and skin-contact winemakers around the world. Many bottlings are released as Venezia Giulia IGT rather than under the Collio DOC.
Working today with his daughter Mateja, Gravner makes the Ribolla and the Bianco 'Breg' (from Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling Italico), plus a red Rosso 'Rujno' from Pignolo — reference points of the amphora-wine world.