Ribolla Gialla, Friuli, Italy

Beautifully aged living legend of a bottle, rated E for Exceptional in every parameter imaginable! Few wines can compare to this mythical orange wine from Josko Gravner, a living legend in Collio Goriziano, a small northeast Italian region bordering Slovenia. He’s a true obsessive, insisting upon the most minimal winemaking possible by fermenting all of his wine in Georgian clay amphora – using the earth as natural temperature control – and ripping out his international grapes in favour of two, ancient regional varieties, Ribolla Gialla and Pignolo Rosso, grown in Oslavia and Hum. He’s steeped in ancestral knowledge, restoring his cellar in a 300 year old building occupied by his family for centuries, working the land around him to an extraordinary degree – farming by moon cycles, converting vineyards to forest and planting and replanting vines endlessly to build upon the generations of winemaking knowledge passed down to him. Plus, he’s neighbours with another orange winemaking legend, the Saša Radikon – super casual, no big deal at all! The yellow Ribolla grapes were destemmed, crushed and fermented in traditional Georgian qvevri for 6-7 months, then aged a further year in underground amphora & a further 6 years (!) in big Italian botti, or oak casks – over 7 years of work! The colour of spun gold with a writhing, serpentine fluidity – honeybee encased in amber, lemon beeswax candle, calvados, rehydrated dried apricot, dried herb bouquet, orange pith & tannins like crushed autumn leaves. Buy a Zalto just for yourself & let your soul leave your body.