Josko Gravner

The Gravner family bought its house in Oslavia, surrounded by two hectares of land, in 1901. During the First World War it was the only house still standing in the village and was used as a first aid post for soldiers at the front. The family's older house, at Hum on the Slovenian side of the border, is more than 300 years old. Josko Gravner began working with his father at the age of 14, and at 21 he took over the winery and began bottling the wine. In the 1970s he replaced his father's old wood fermenting casks with temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats and other modern equipment, and a decade later he imported French oak barriques. His wines from that period were awarded tre bicchieri by Gambero Rosso. A trip to California in 1987, where he tasted 1,000 wines, turned him away from that approach: in the 1990s he removed the barriques and steel tanks, returned to organic farming and large barrels, and replaced the pneumatic press with a refurbished 1950s hydraulic basket press. Two hailstorms on 19 and 20 June 1996 destroyed almost all the harvest. With the remaining Ribolla he experimented with long skin contact and ambient-yeast fermentation, and 1997 saw the first released vintage of skin-macerated Ribolla. More than half of his overseas distributors cancelled their orders after a Gambero Rosso article on the change. All barriques had left the cellar by 1999. Gravner travelled to Georgia in 2000, and an initial batch of 11 Georgian qvevri arrived by 2001. Right after the 2012 harvest the estate uprooted its Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling vineyards, ending production of Bianco Breg.

• 1901: the family bought its Oslavia house with two hectares of land.
• 1987: trip to California; 1996: hailstorms destroyed almost all the harvest; 1997: first released vintage of skin-macerated Ribolla.
• 1999: all barriques removed; 2000: trip to Georgia; 2001: first amphora imported from Georgia.
• 2012: the international white varieties were uprooted after the harvest, ending Bianco Breg.

As of June 2018, Josko Gravner's daughters Mateja and Jana worked alongside him at the winery, and Jana was in charge of the vineyards. His son Miha Gravner (d. 2009) began working with his father in the early 2000s, with the plan that he would one day take over the estate. As of October 2019, Mateja had returned home to help with office operations and exports, and Gravner was training her son, Gregor, in the vineyards and winery.

• Josko Gravner: took over the winery at 21.
• Mateja: office operations and exports (as of October 2019).
• Jana: in charge of the vineyards (as of June 2018).
• Gregor, Mateja's son: training in the vineyards and winery (as of October 2019).

Oslavia is a small hamlet near the town of Gorizia in the Friuli region, on the Collio hills (Brda in Slovene), right next to the border with Slovenia and halfway between the Adriatic Sea and the Julian Alps. The estate has a total surface area of 32 hectares, of which 15 hectares are vineyards; three more hectares are to be planted, bringing the vineyards to 18 hectares, and the remaining land comprises woods, meadows and ponds. Runk, in Italy, has always been planted to Ribolla and a small share of Merlot; after the 2003 harvest its old vineyards were uprooted to rationalise the parcel and a pond was dug in the middle of the vines, and its current plantings date from 1998 (Ribolla) and 2005 (Ribolla and Pignolo). Hum, in Slovenia, is where the house of Gravner's ancestors has stood for over 300 years; it is planted to Merlot (1966), Ribolla (1996) and Pignolo (1998). Dedno, also in Slovenia, is a very steep plot that Gravner assembled in 1996 by joining the family's small vineyard to the neighbouring land; its first Ribolla vines were planted in 2010. The Pusca vineyard, planted to Sauvignon and Chardonnay in 1985, was uprooted in 2012 and turned into forest. Ponds dug in the largest vineyards and trees planted on the terraces, including olive trees, cypresses, wild apple trees, manna ashes and rowan trees, bring back plants, insects, animals and birds. Work in the fields follows the moon calendar interpreted by Maria Thun, and by 2019 Gravner had embraced biodynamics without seeking certification.

• 32 hectares in total, of which 15 hectares are vineyards; three more hectares are to be planted.
• Runk (Italy): Ribolla planted 1998 and 2005, Pignolo 2005.
• Hum (Slovenia): Merlot 1966, Ribolla 1996, Pignolo 1998.
• Dedno (Slovenia): plots joined in 1996; first Ribolla planted 2010.
• Vineyard work follows Maria Thun's moon calendar; biodynamic, not certified (2019).

All fermentation takes place in Georgian amphorae buried underground, with wild yeasts and no temperature control, and all wines have skin-contact maceration of about six months. After the drawing off and pressing, the Ribolla goes back into the amphorae for at least five more months, then ages for six years in large oak barrels and is bottled without fining or filtration. The method developed in stages. The 1998, 1999 and 2000 Ribolla fermented in large wooden vats with 10 to 14 days of maceration. In 2001 and 2002 part of the wine fermented in large wooden vats because the amphora cellar was not yet finished, and 2003 was the first year in which all the harvested grapes for Ribolla and Bianco Breg fermented in amphorae. The Ribolla's time in large oak barrels grew from three years (2001 to 2004) to four (2005), five (2006) and six (from 2007). The 2006 Rosso Breg was the first vintage of that wine fermented on its skins in buried Georgian amphorae. After experiments in the 2016 vintage, Gravner changed completely in 2017 to whole-cluster fermentation with the stems. As of October 2019, Gravner planned to bury 14 qvevri outdoors, in the layered soils known locally as ponca on the hillside behind the cellars, to receive the 2020 vintage.

• Fermentation in buried Georgian amphorae with wild yeasts and no temperature control; skin maceration of about six months.
• Ribolla: at least five more months in amphorae after pressing, six years in large oak barrels, bottled without fining or filtration.
• 2003: first year all harvested grapes for the whites fermented in amphorae; 2006: first Rosso Breg fermented in amphorae.
• Whole-cluster fermentation with the stems since 2017.

The estate groups its wines as Ribolla, Rosso Breg, Rosso Gravner, Bianco Breg and Riserva. Ribolla is made from Ribolla grapes, and the most recent vintage on the estate's wine list is 2018. Rosso Breg is made from Pignolo and produced only with local red grapes; the 2010 fermented with the skins in buried Georgian amphorae, aged four years in oak barrels and 11 years in bottle, and was bottled during a waning moon without fining or filtration. Rosso Gravner is made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon; the 2010, from vines planted in the early 1960s, fermented on its skins in buried Georgian kvevri for four weeks and was bottled in September 2014. Bianco Breg was a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling Italico, fermented separately and aged together; 2012 is its last vintage. The Riserva group holds selections: Ribolla R10 and R11, from a selection of the best Ribolla grapes and bottle aged for seven years before release; Rujno, from Merlot and a little Cabernet Sauvignon, made only in the best years; Bianco Sivi, from Pinot Grigio; and 8.9.10, a sweet Ribolla from individual bunches with noble rot harvested in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and bottled in July 2015.

• Ribolla: Ribolla grapes; six years in large oak barrels after amphora fermentation.
• Rosso Breg: Pignolo; the 2010 spent four years in oak and 11 in bottle.
• Rosso Gravner: Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Bianco Breg: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling Italico; last vintage 2012.
• Riserva: Ribolla R10 and R11, Rujno, Bianco Sivi and the sweet 8.9.10.

Wine Spectator rated the 2009 Ribolla 95 points. Writing in Decanter in 2018, Tom Cannavan found Gravner's example followed by many producers on both sides of the border and his influence evident from California to Australia, calling him a role model for the natural wine movement, though not its sole creator. In Wine Spectator, Robert Camuto credited Gravner with leading a group of winemakers whose months-long macerations of Ribolla produced deeply colored, highly structured whites that earned the informal designation of 'orange wines.' Gravner and the late Stanko Radikon both took the maceration route in the mid-1990s; Gravner aged his wines in clay amphorae, whereas Radikon preferred large casks.

• 2009 Ribolla: 95 points from Wine Spectator.
• Gravner and Radikon both turned to long maceration in the mid-1990s; Gravner chose clay amphorae, Radikon large casks.

Gravner writes of his cellar: 'There is no modern technology or special effects here. This is a space where amphorae from the Caucasus are gently cradled by my land.' Of maceration he told Stephen Brook: 'I tried a shorter maceration, but I found that a longer period sweetens the wine.' Brook, writing in Decanter, found the wines 'majestic and sumptuous, yet fully dry, but not to everyone's taste.'

Primary source (producer's own site): https://www.gravner.it/en/, read through its content service https://cms.gravner.it/webservices/1.0/?a=get_home_contents&lang=en (estate, vineyard, cellar, harvest and wine pages). Secondary sources: Decanter (Tom Cannavan, https://www.decanter.com/premium/producer-profile-gravner-381970/, last updated 5 June 2018; Stephen Brook, https://www.decanter.com/premium/rebula-ribolla-plus-9-best-try-412833/, 28 April 2019) and Wine Spectator (Robert Camuto, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-wizard-of-oslavia-winemaker-josko-gravner, 1 October 2019). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-10-18