When it comes to nature and winegrowing, political boundaries may seem like little more than a nuisance—especially in Italy, and perhaps nowhere more so than Friuli. Here, vineyards whimsically straddle borders, dividing Slovenian communities for decades, yet not their culture. Despite the politics, Slovenian-Italians have injected a dash of uniqueness into Italian winemaking. Perhaps most notably, they’ve championed skin-contact white wines, catapulting them to international fame.
Thanks mainly to the region of Friuli, particularly in the Collio (Brda in Slovenian) and Karst (Carso in Italian and Kras in Slovenian) subregions, the reemergence of orange wine, as skin-macerated whites are known, owes its development to historical winemaking practices, experimentation by local producers and a sort of rebellion against wine industrialization.
“I think in the 1990s, with Slovenia’s independence, many producers wanted to make something different and not follow the classic Italian way of making white wine,” says Nikolas Juretic of his eponymous winery located in Cormòns (or Krmin in Slovenian) in Collio.
However, two key figures often credited with popularizing the style are Joško Gravner and the late Stanko Radikon, two neighbors from the town of Oslavia (Oslavje in Slovenian). Their decision to embrace extended skin contact for white wines and adopt traditional methods helped revive interest in orange wines, sparking a movement both locally and internationally.
NO BORDERS
Friuli, nestled within the province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, boasts a rich and diverse history shaped by a hodgepodge of rulers across the ages. Originally part of the Roman Empire’s Julian region,
