Bianco Breg 2009 will be one of the last vintages produced by the winery.
Since 2012 Joško Gravner has been focusing only on native varieties and on a new project, a vine garden in Dedno
Great decisions take time and develop silently. Joško Gravner, founder of Gravner winery, began his career as a winemaker who employed the most updated cellar technology and then, slowly moved on towards a nature-oriented approach. This meant going back to ancestral techniques: indigenous yeasts, no temperature control fermentation, long skin maceration, amphora ageing and lunar calendar rhythms.
Five years ago Joško further moved on with a decision he has been mulling over for many years. He stopped cultivating international grape varieties to better focus on two great native interpreters of the territory, white Ribolla grape and red Pignolo grape. It was 2012 and the decision marked the end of Bianco Breg.
Bianco Breg 2009, which has recently being released, is a blend of sauvignon, pinot grigio, chardonnay and Italic riesling. “It was a very dry vintage - recollects Joško Gravner - with a limited amount of rain during the autumn which did not allow botrytris to extensively develop on grapes”.
“On the contrary, 2005 has been a well balanced vintage with regular rainfall throughout summer and autumn” explains Joško. The vintage is well portrayed by Rosso Breg 2005, now on sale, whereas Ribolla Riserva 2003 is going to be released only later this fall.
In the meantime, the new vineyard is getting ready. It extends over 8 hectares (about 20 acres) in Dedno, Slovenia, and it has been prepared for 17 years. Dedication and tenacity are the key words for this visionary project. Dedno vineyard encompasses three artificial ponds and has required a significant landscape-architecture effort in order to create a vine garden endowed with many tree species and a number of artificial bird nests as opposed to a more common plantation of vines only. The steep slopes have often forced Joško to work by hand and a landslip occurred in 2001 has further slowed down works.
Finally, the project is reaching its final stage. Last spring rootstock vines were planted and grafting will likely be carried out in a two years time, once the root system has adequately developed.