Josko Gravner Venezia Giulia Anfora Ribolla Gialla 2014

“Orange wine” is a bona fide category now, one whose amber-colored tentacles have crept further and further into the mainstream over the past several years. Still, amidst an ocean of skin-contact white wines from every corner of the globe, those of Josko Gravner stand apart. His resurrection of this ancient practice two decades ago was certainly not an inevitability, especially considering technology’s ever-increasing role in the winemaking process, and it took someone of Gravner’s vision and tenacity to forge such a path for himself. A highly acclaimed producer of technical, stylish Friulian wines early in his career, Josko underwent a crisis of faith in the late 1990s, realizing that he simply didn’t enjoy drinking his own wine anymore. The story of his perilous journey into the Caucasus mountains and his life-altering encounters with ancient Georgian viticultural traditions has been well-told by now, but—in the wine world of 2018, where one can easily mail-order a clay jar or two to indulge in a bit of experimental fun—Josko’s overhaul of his entire methodology stands out even more sharply for its wholeheartedness and fearlessness. He knew he would alienate people, but he would at last be able to make wines that had meaning for him beyond their commercial success. While his radical shift indeed confused many at the time, Josko ended up inspiring a legion of growers to abandon the trappings of modern technical winemaking in favor of something more visceral and ancient in spirit, and his arrestingly atavistic wines connected deeply with consumers who yearned for an experience beyond the ordinary. Even today, when the flavors and textures of skin-contact white wines have become much more broadly familiar, Gravner’s achieve a level of expressive power few wines on earth can approach, and he is justly revered for his efforts. While there are plenty of other growers today using skin contact, burying amphorae, and otherwise reducing their reliance on technology, nobody has combined those practices with such a trustingly extended elevage as Josko. His wines enter the market fully grown, powerful in their seamlessness, and with a layered depth only age can expose.