Few producers are as central to today’s conversation around natural wine – and orange wines, especially – as Radikon. Bluntly speaking, these are wines that have set a new standard, extolling the virtues of chemical-free farming, native varieties, long macerations and extended ageing, putting the region of Friuli into the global spotlight as a result.
Stanko Radikon, the late family patriarch, began making wine from his family’s steep and low-yielding vineyards on the Slovenian border in the late 1970s. It wasn’t until the mid ’90s, however, that he began fermenting his white wines on skins for weeks and even months without sulphur, like his own grandfather used to. Stanko flipped the script in the cellar, too, maturing the wines for years in large Slavonian oak casks and several years further in bottle. And to unlock even more ageing potential, he also designed slim necks and elongated corks for the estate’s distinctive 500ml and one-litre bottles, allowing for steadier development over time. Innovative to the max, indeed.
Perhaps the most coveted of all the cuvées is the 2020 Ribolla (available in 500ml and one-litre bottles), Friuli’s flagship white variety pushed to its structural peak, deeply hued and pulsing with dried apricot, candied orange peel, cardamom and frankincense flavours. While it’s just as expressive, there’s a slightly gentler tone to the 2020 ‘O’ (also 500ml or one-litre format), a blend of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc led by stewed stone fruits, resinous green herbs and salted hazelnuts. The 2020 Jakot (again in 500ml or one litre), meanwhile, is often cited as the most concentrated of the lot, with its tight weave of dried peaches, bergamot tea, beeswax, marzipan and a whiff of eucalyptus. For best results, decant for hours, serve close to room temp and stroke your chin repeatedly.
Though the reds get nowhere near as much airtime as the orange wines, they’re easily just as captivating (and probably even more of a flex). With nearly two decades under its belt, the 2010 Merlot is in fine form, showing ripe purple berries, plum jam and rhubarb shot through with wet tobacco, worn leather and aged balsamic. Exquisite. And then there’s the 2014 Pignoli, a look at the rare and robust local pignolo varietal that’s all about tension: high tannins, high acid, yet incredible freshness, too, in amongst the layers of sour cherries, bramble fruit, coffee grounds and cloves.
In 2009, Stanko’s son (and the estate’s current custodian), Saša, introduced the ‘S’ range to the fold, a suite of more accessible wines in 750ml format, made with less time on skins and in oak for more fruit forwardness and easier enjoyment. The 2023 Slatnik offers a brighter, breezier take on a skin-contact sauv blanc and tocai blend, though by no means a paygrade down in terms of complexity. Picture marmalade, brown apples and peach blossoms sprinkled with sea salt and Italian herbs and you’re right there.
Skin-contact pinot grigio, always a treat, finds a high-water mark in the 2023 Sivi, a seriously structured cornucopia of wild forest fruits, hibiscus, baked pear and a hint of alpine amaro amplified tenfold by its chalky pucker. That same racy throughline carries over to the 2023 RS, an energetic merlot/pignolo blend that drinks like squashed blackberries and blackcurrants perfumed with lavender, liquorice, cedar and sage. What a line-up.
