Joško Gravner

Pioneer of amber wines and timeless terroir expression in Friuli’s Collio

snapshot

Region: Oslavia, Collio Goriziano, Friuli‑Venezia Giulia — rolling limestone hills near the Italian–Slovenian border.
Style: Extended skin‑contact whites (“amber/orange”) and layered Pignolo reds with long, meditative ageing.
Vineyards: ~37 ha biodynamically tended; predominantly Ribolla Gialla and Pignolo with international varieties recently phased out.
Farming: Organic and biodynamic principles to support soil life and ecosystem balance
Winemaking: Spontaneous yeast fermentations, buried Georgian amphorae (qvevri), long macerations (often months), then years of ageing before release.
Signature: Ribolla Gialla amber wine and structured Pignolo Rosso, both released ~7+ years after harvest.

 

“I make wine I like to drink.”

JOŠKO GRAVNER
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  • Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007
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    Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007

    Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007
    €140,00 EUR

HOW HE GOT HERE

Joško Gravner grew up tending family vineyards and took over the estate in 1973. Early in his career, he experimented with modern approaches — stainless steel, barriques and international grapes — but eventually found them unsatisfying.

Disillusioned by conventional winemaking and inspired by terroir, Gravner began stripping back all but what he saw as essential: native vines, minimal intervention, and time. He studied ancient Georgian qvevri fermentation methods and adopted buried amphorae, long macerations and years of ageing.

Today, his wines are released only after many years of cellaring — often seven or more — letting the vineyard, vintage and amphora do the work with almost no human artifice.

Where The Wine Is Born

The Gravner estate sits in Oslavia (Collio Goriziano) — limestone, marl and marl‑rich soils shaped by ancient seabeds. The landscape, perched above Gorizia and criss‑crossed by microclimates from the Adriatic and Alpine breezes, gives Gravner’s wines their deep mineral frame and slow‑ripening clarity.

Ribolla Gialla — a local white grape with thick skins and expressive aromatics — finds its full complexity here when fermented on skins in amphorae. Similarly, Pignolo, a native red with deep structure and tannic potential, becomes long‑lived and refined with Gravner’s methods.

OSLAVIA

How the wine feels

Time & Place

Centuries of Collio geology carried in every sip.

Textural Depth

Skin contact orange wines with layered spice, earth and resonance.

Patient Focus

Minimal intervention, maximum clarity and balance.
Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007
Sold out

Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007

Josko Gravner - Ribolla 2007
€140,00 EUR
FOR THE NERDS

The Gravner estate spans roughly 37 hectares in Oslavia, with the core focus on indigenous Ribolla Gialla and Pignolo vines planted amidst limestone and marl slopes.

Viticulture is organic and biodynamic in practice, emphasizing soil life, biodiversity and hand harvests with very low yields. International varieties once planted have been phased out in favor of native grapes that better express this terroir.

In the cellar, Gravner employs large Georgian qvevri (amphorae) buried underground. Whole clusters or destemmed grapes are fermented in these vessels with no temperature control, added yeasts, filtration or modern additives — a technique inspired directly by ancient traditions.

After initial macerations of around six months on the skins, wines are transferred to large oak barrels for continued ageing — often for six or more years before bottling and eventual release.

This ultra‑long process yields wines that are texturally rich, deeply mineral and profoundly expressive of vintage and place — a style that challenged conventional Italian winemaking and helped ignite global interest in skin‑contact and ancestral methods.

“People are more concerned about the market, but a good producer is never a good salesman. I don’t need to convince anyone that my wines are good.”