RADIKON - Ribolla 2013
Radikon is located at Oslavia (Province of Gorizia) in in the Collio Goriziano zone of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy, on the border with Slovenia. It was established by former winemaker Stanislao “Stanko” Radikon, who died aged 62 in 2016. Extended fermentations and long aging are hallmark of this producer; in 1995 Stanko returned to his grandfather’s methods, beginning to give his white wines seven days of skin contact during fermentation to obtain more intensity of flavour and colour. As he experimented further the duration of macerations and fermentations, and of aging, increased. These methods allowed for sulphur additions to be, depending on the wine, eradicated or minimalised. The design of the bottle is unusual, in either 500ml or 1 litre, and the bottle neck and cork are narrow to replicate the proportions of a magnum, which is generally considered to be the optimum format for ageing. The 11-hectare vineyard is located on very steep slopes which are difficult to work. Therefore, all processes are carried out by hand and no pesticides or chemicals are used.
Ribolla is an indigenous grape variety, often used for maceration wines. The harvest is manual and after removing the stems from the grapes, they are placed in barrels where the maceration is maintained without temperature control or the addition of chemical yeasts. The cap is manually punched 2 to 3 times a day so that the skins of the grapes are always in contact with the wine. At the end of the alcoholic fermentation, the vats are filled and the wine remains in contact with the skins for 2 months, and the malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously. After racking, the wine rests in 25 to 35 hectoliters foudres for about 4 years. No input is used during aging. The wine is aged in the bottle for 1 year before being put on sale.
Grape variety: 100% Ribolla
Purchase limited to 1 bottle
