Stanislao Radikon - Fruili

STANISLAO RADIKON

Stanislao Radikon (Stanko to his friends) knows how to grow grapes. His family has been doing it on their 11 hectare estate in the Friuli region of north-eastern Italy for over a century. Stanko began running the estate himself over 30 years ago and elevated its status immensely. The vineyards are densely planted (up to 10,000 plants per acre) on steeply sloped limestone and everything is done by hand, literally. Stanko does not use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers and keeps his yields under a paltry 2.25 tonnes to the acre. Basically everything is in place to produce some of the greatest grapes on the planet, and they do, but it’s in the winery where Stanko Radikon has forged a reputation for himself as one of the most visionary winemakers in the world – and all because he barely does anything.

Working exclusively with natural products and eschewing additives entirely Radikon harvests by hand, has extended maceration times and lengthy skin contact on his whites, ferments long and slow with natural yeasts and uses no temperature control. His massive fermentation barrels are old and worn and act only as vessels not flavor enhancers. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered and often show a hazy, brilliant orange colour in the glass. The white wines from Radikon are simply put some of the most compelling wines I have ever smelled or tasted. They are grounded in the earth and smell more of fruit pit than fruit, or leaf and root than flowers – though its all there if you give it some attention. They are orange in colour, profoundly aromatic and have the density and texture of a red wine with the freshness and buoyancy of a white. Every wine drinker, and I mean every wine drinker, should drink a Radikon white at some point before they die. Drinking a Radikon provides an experience that, given the right person, will change not just your opinion of wine but probably of life too.