Friulian Orange Wine Odyssey
In 1996, hail destroyed 95% of Joško Gravner's harvest. With what little remained, he left the skins on. What fermented in the tank changed wine history. Today, 47 Georgian qvevri are buried in his underground cellar — the largest collection outside Georgia — and the Ribolla Gialla inside them won't reach you for seven years. Neighbor Stanko Radikon arrived at the same conclusion independently in 1995, then died days before harvest in 2016, leaving his son Saša to finish the vintage alone. In Oslavia, on hills that hold 57,201 war dead beneath the ponca soil, you can visit both cellars and taste the amber wine that rewrote the rulebook.
A Wine Memories experience · winememories.fi
Country
🇮🇹 Italy
Duration
Full day
How to Complete
5 steps curated by Wine Memories
- 🍷 Log Memory
📍 WHERE: Sacrario Militare di Oslavia — the fortress-shaped ossuary on the 150m hill above the village. From Gorizia, drive 3km north toward Oslavia and follow signs for 'Sacrario.' The entrance tower is unmistakable.
💡 WHAT: This is the same hill where Italy and Austria-Hungary fought the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo in November–December 1915. The ossuary reopened in February 2025 after years of restoration. Inside: the remains of 57,201 soldiers — 36,440 of them unidentified — plus 539 Austro-Hungarian troops. All of them died within sight of the vineyards you're about to visit. Mussolini inaugurated this monument in 1938.
🎯 HOW: Walk through the central tower and descend into the crypt. Then find the highest exterior point and look south across the valley. The patchwork of green-silver vineyard rows below you — that ponca soil, those Ribolla Gialla vines — they were fighting over this exact view. Gravner's cellar is 800 meters from where you're standing. The wine you're about to drink was made within sight of where people died. That's not decoration. It changes how it tastes.
🔄 BACKUP: If closed (hours: Tue–Fri 2:30–4pm, Sat–Sun 1:30–6pm, closed Monday), the exterior and grounds are always accessible. Walk the perimeter and look at the vineyard panorama — the vista alone justifies the detour.
- 🍷 Log Memory
📍 WHERE: Gravner winery, Località Lenzuolo Bianco 9, Oslavia. Email info@gravner.it or call +39 0481 30882 at least 2 weeks ahead — tours BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Cost approximately €50/person. Tours led by Joško's daughter Mateja.
💡 WHAT: In 2000, Joško Gravner traveled to Georgia and bought 11 terracotta qvevri. Nine of the eleven broke during the 3,000km journey back. He fermented the 2001 vintage in the surviving two. Now his underground cellar contains 47 qvevri — the largest collection outside Georgia — each 500–2,500 liters, buried two-thirds in the earth. The fermentation happens underground, at the temperature the earth dictates. Not stainless steel. Not temperature control. Just clay, skin contact for six months, and gravity.
🎯 HOW: During the tour, ask to see the sorting table above the cellar — unusually short and low, designed so whole bunches fall by gravity directly into the qvevri below. Descend into the cellar. Look at the sealed clay tops flush with the floor. Ask Mateja: 'Which vintage is currently fermenting?' The outdoor 'amphora garden' behind the winery is newer — 22 more qvevri buried in rows in the open hillside, an ongoing experiment with open-air aging. At the tasting: you will drink the current-release Ribolla Gialla — made from harvest 7 years earlier (6 months in qvevri, 6 years in large Slavonian oak foudres). The amber color is not a flaw. The tannins are not a flaw. This is what a white grape tastes like when someone trusts it completely.
🔄 BACKUP: If Gravner is fully booked, the Ribolla Gialla (~€100–120) is available at several Gorizia wine shops. You taste the same wine without the appointment — but the cellar is irreplaceable.
- 🍷 Log Memory
📍 WHERE: Radikon winery, Località Tre Buchi 4, Oslavia — 800 meters from Gravner, also appointment-only. Email info@radikon.it or call +39 0481 32804. Weekdays and Saturday mornings only. Cost: €50/person (discount if you purchase wine).
💡 WHAT: Stanko Radikon died September 11, 2016 — days before harvest. His son Saša, who had worked alongside him for a decade ('In the cellar, it was just me and him. We did everything together'), finished that harvest alone. Radikon's method is DIFFERENT from Gravner's: open wooden fermentation vats, not qvevri. Skin contact 7–60+ days. Aged in large Slovenian oak botti — never new oak. The wines are more approachable than Gravner's but equally profound.
🎯 HOW: Ask Saša: 'What would your father think of where orange wine is now — in every wine bar, everywhere, called natural?' Watch his face. Then ask to see the cellar. The botti are enormous. Hold your glass up to the light — that amber color is 737 years of Friulian grape history, a grape first documented in a notarial contract in 1289. Stanko didn't invent this. He remembered it. The tasting room has valley views. Book the guest house (rooms above the cellar) if you want to wake up to Oslavia.
🔄 BACKUP: Radikon wines are poured by the glass at several Gorizia wine bars. Ask specifically for the Ribolla (flagship skin-contact white) rather than the S (shorter-maceration entry-level line).
- 🍷 Log Memory
📍 WHERE: Primosic winery's 'Orange Benches' on the RibolliAMO route above Oslavia, or at any enoteca in Gorizia's old town. The Orange Benches are vineyard picnic tables placed specifically for tasting with a panoramic view. Primosic estate: Via Madonnina 1, Oslavia.
💡 WHAT: Ribolla Gialla was first written down in 1289. Giovanni Boccaccio — writing in 1348 during the Black Plague — listed 'indulgence of Ribolla wines' as a sin of gluttony. The Duke of Austria Leopold III demanded 100 urns of it annually from Trieste as tribute. This grape has survived 737 years of wars, phylloxera, fascism, and modernization on these ponca hills.
🎯 HOW: Try a conventional (non-macerated) Ribolla Gialla first — Primosic makes both styles. Notice the crisp citrus-minerality, high acid, slight chalkiness. Then taste the macerated version. The color shifts from pale yellow to deep amber. Tannin appears where there was none. Dried apricot and walnut replace fresh lemon. Same grape. Same soil. One has its skins on. Ask yourself which version Boccaccio was drinking in 1348.
🔄 BACKUP: Any enoteca in Gorizia will have Ribolla by the glass. Ask for a 'comparazione' — classic and macerated side by side. Cost approximately €5–8 per glass.
- 🍷 Log Memory
📍 WHERE: Any traditional trattoria in Gorizia — Ristorante Rosenbar (Piazza Vittoria 1) or Osteria Alla Luna are the most consistent for Friulian classics. A 10-minute drive from Oslavia.
💡 WHAT: Frico. A pan-fried cake of Montasio cheese and potatoes — invented to use every last scrap of Montasio DOP, an Alpine cheese made by monks since the 13th century. The frico morbido (soft, molten center) pairs with orange wine in a way that feels designed: the cheese's fat coats the tannin; the wine's acid cuts the richness; together they taste like the landscape. Three cultures — Latin, Germanic, Slavic — converged in Friuli, and the food reflects it. Orange wine was essentially born for this table.
🎯 HOW: Order the frico morbido, not croccante. Ask for it with a glass of macerated Ribolla — any year, any producer. Tell the server you've just come from Gravner or Radikon and watch them decide how much to tell you about the wine list. Main courses €12–18; wine by the glass €6–10.
🔄 BACKUP: Mercato Coperto (covered market) in central Gorizia sells Montasio at the cheese stalls. Buy a wedge, grab a rosetta roll from the bakery next door, and picnic at the Orange Benches above Oslavia. Free version — not lesser.