Lorenzo Biscontin
The story of Josko Gravner and his wines is well known, but it is worth briefly summarizing it both because it helps to contextualize today’s news and to not exclude new passionate consumers who perhaps, rightly, do not know it.
A winemaker in the Collio Goriziano awarded many times by critics and the market, at the end of the 90s of the last millennia he disowns his own wines because he finds them “massified”, “standardized” and “artificial” and so everything changes.
He abandons the steel tanks, adopts the Georgian amphorae and returns to the natural fermentations without temperature control of his peasant tradition.
From the peasant tradition he also recovers the fermentation and maceration of white grapes on the skins and so he invents the orange wines, adding to them the very long refinements, 7 years, even for the white wines.
At the beginning (it was 1997) he was panned by critics, but over time he became the legend of world winemaking that he is today.
Gravner’s originality and innovation lies in not being satisfied with making the best possible wine with the tools and techniques available, but in researching, and if necessary creating, the tools and techniques to realize his own idea of wine (a vision that, in my opinion, he shares with Maurizio Zanella of Cà del Bosco, even if the two estates may seem very far apart).
From this concept descend, in a linear way I would say, his radical choices such as the abandonment of synthetic chemistry in the vineyard and in the cellar or the uprooting in 2012 of all international vines to make room for the forest and focus only on the native Ribolla and Pignolo (it is worth remembering that at the time of the decision the company’s most famous wine was the Bianco Breg, a blend of Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Riesling Italico).
Gravner’s vision is therefore neither of a tradition sclerotically stuck in the past, nor of an iconoclastic innovation as an end.
It is the search for the supreme, ideal, and not non-ideological, wine.
A vision that to be realized needs experimentation.
The latest in terms of time concerns the adoption of glass as a material for wine refinement tanks, thanks to its qualities of inertia, resistance and ease of cleaning. What Josko Gravner and his nephew Gregor Pietro, who works alongside him in the cellar, needed, however, did not exist and was therefore created through collaboration with two different companies: EnoKube and Pfaudler.
In the first case, Gravner together with Enrico Cusinato and the master glassmaker Vittorio Benvenuto created a 10 hl glass tank, already used in the cellar since last spring for the refinement of small batches with positive results thanks to the characteristics of the glass.
The only limit is the reduced capacity of the tank, because the glass is unable to support the high weight of larger volumes.
Hence the choice to contact Pfaudler Italia, a company specialized in the construction of vitrified equipment for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and part of the GMM Pfaudler group.
The collaboration led to the creation of vitrified steel tanks with a maximum capacity of 70 hectoliters, whose design combines the strength of steel and the chemical resistance of glass. After careful initial design and construction, the steel tanks undergo a manual internal vitrification process that includes a first base layer and subsequent covering layers. Each vitrification is followed by a heat treatment of approximately 900 °C to permanently join the steel and glass, making it a true composite material. The glass coating guarantees a smooth, porous-free surface that is highly hygienic and does not release unwanted substances, making it ideal for storing and refining wine. In addition to their long operating life, vitrified tanks are entirely recyclable, thus favoring the environmental impact and improving sustainability.
“The constant search for innovation is never an end in itself, but comes from the desire to improve every aspect of the production process, remaining faithful to our roots – says Mateja Gravner –. With EnoKube we have found a perfect solution for small high-quality productions, where every detail makes the difference. Pfaudler, on the other hand, has allowed us to face the challenge of refining normal production volumes without compromising the quality of the wine. Both solutions are essential for us, because they represent two sides of the same coin: the search for perfection in wine, regardless of quantity. Each container has a specific and valuable role in our process, and together they allow us to continue doing what we love”.
“The collaboration between the GMM Pfaudler Group and Gravner represents a significant step for both companies, leaders in their respective sectors. It is a meeting between industrial research and nature that opens up new opportunities, markets and solutions for both brands – underlines Mauro Bona, Regional Sales Manager of Pfaudler Italy srl –. For the Oslavia winery it means integrating cutting-edge technologies into its historic wine production, for GMM Pfaudler it is the opportunity to demonstrate the adaptability of its technologies to a growing sector and to contribute to the evolution of an established leader like Gravner”.
In Gravner’s hands, what effect will glass have on the profile of his wines?
We will have to wait until 2031 to find out, but we are optimistic.