In Lenzuolo Bianco, a hamlet of Oslavia, Collio Goriziano, wine has always been made, regardless of how the border with Yugoslavia first and then with Slovenia has moved over the years. Tradition is strong and men are even more so in this strip of Italy that speaks Slovenian and which for several years has become the cradle of wines produced as at the dawn of civilization and which today are often labeled as natural or artisanal wines .
Joško Gravner has made and still does today the history of Oslavia: his wine is his thought, and his thought is his way of being in the world.
Few winemakers have revolutionized the way of making wine in an entire region like Gravner and very few, perhaps none, have done so more than once.
An interpreter of the purest biodynamic Gravner, made not only of respect for nature and its rhythms but also of its own contribution to the surrounding environment to encourage biodiversity and contribute to the generation of serenity.
In the cellar Joško relies on the millenary Caucasian tradition, making the grapes ferment and macerate in underground amphorae for a few weeks, before drawing off, pressing and letting the must rest in amphora for five months. In the silence, darkness and tranquility of a splendid cellar dug into the rock, the wine grows in the Qvevri and slowly transforms, before leaving the earth to rely on oak for five long years before a well-deserved rest in the bottle.
It is a linear, simple process, which does not require clarification or filtration, only a minimal addition of sulfur because the natural product of fermented grapes is not wine but vinegar.
Rosso Rujno, like a star, waits 16 years from the market after that harvest.
It immediately impacts the taster with its history well translated into olfactory complexity and robustness: dark garnet and not at all transparent, it is spicy, with hints of tobacco, undergrowth, ripe red fruits and raisins. In the mouth it is muscular but elegant, with a perceptible but well rounded tannin in its corners, still fresh and well mineral.
The finish is not easily forgotten and perhaps there is no desire to do so, respecting the extended times of a producer who tries to bring us back to the simplicity and pleasure of simple things, like drinking a glass of wine in company.