Happy Birthday Stanko
My last wine fair of 2024, a memorial event for Stanko Radikon
December 20th is a special day for orange wine fans. It’s the late Stanko Radikon’s birthday. Stanko was, together with Joško Gravner, the godfather of the modern-day orange wine renaissance. He championed skin-fermented white wine well before any of his customers understood what he was trying to do. He had absolute conviction that this method could best convey sense of place and communicate something about the Collio and the heritage tradition of his village Oslavia.
I am very grateful to have met and talked with Stanko on a handful of occasions between 2014 – 2016. He was an intelligent and humble man with a deep passion for the craft of vine growing and wine making. He passed away on September 11th 2016 after a long battle with cancer. It’s quite something to ponder that his legacy still lives on in barrels of yet to be released wines. Even if Stanko’s last oranges are now long since bottled and sold, there are several more vintages of Pignoli to come.
Stanko’s family organise a memorial event called Živijo! (which means hello, cheers or “to life”, in Slovene). It’s one of the most precious events in my calendar because of what it means. Živijo happens only once every two years, it requires a considerable amount of travel and it’s stupidly close to Christmas. But some things are just too important to miss.
The first two editions of Živijo in 2017 and 18 took place at the Radikon winery itself, but the event outgrew the space. Now it takes place in a wonderfully old-school gymnasium in downtown Gorizia. The building dates back to 1868. With its high ceilings and ageing photographs of athletes from yesteryear, it has bags of atmosphere.
The 50 or so winemakers from across Italy and Slovenia who attend are all close to the Radikon family. This isn’t a wine fair where you can apply for a table, it’s a gathering of like-minded spirits and friends. But there is still room for new faces and new discoveries – friends also start new projects or pass the baton to the next generation.
My first encounter of the day was with an English winemaker named Lucy Chivers. She reminded me that we’d met many moons ago at the winebar Plateau in Brighton, before she moved to Italy to work at Radikon for a few years. She then upped sticks again to Penedes, Spain to start making her own wine in 2022. And very tasty it is too. I loved the aromatic blend Nuria 2022, from lightly skin-fermented Moscatell d'Alexandria and Xarel-Lo – even if I wouldn’t entirely trust this wine to its own devices overnight 🐁. But my firm favourite is her Saša 2022, a foot stomped, skin fermented Xarel-Lo made as a homage to her mentor - Stanko’s son. It’s a wild child with wonderful grippy texture and a belt of thrilling acidity.
Il Torchio from Liguria (not to be confused with an identically named estate in Campania) were new to me, even if they have been at it for 12 years. Lunatica 22 is a delicious skin fermented Vermentino with crunchy tannins and plenty of fruit. Their traditional red blend Il Loggorroico 22 (Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot) is full of velvety berry fruit and delivers on its promise to be juicy and thirst-quenching without seeming simplistic.
A little vertical of the Radikon/Cantillon collaboration Racine was a very nice treat that I assume came directly from Saša’s personal cellar. This is a lambic (a traditional brettanomyces-fermented sour beer from Brussels) that’s co-fermented with the skins (pomace) from Radikon’s Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Friulano. The 2020 and 2021 were both stunning, with tack-sharp freshness and beautiful aromatics. 2022 seems more volatile and gluey at the moment, with 2023 a bit similar on the nose but absolutely beautiful, rounded and full on the palate. These are exceptional sour beers that are sadly almost impossible to find, unless you make the pilgrimage to Cantillon itself (and get very very lucky) or splurge crazy amounts to money to find bottles at auction. Cantillon does everything they can to try to limit speculation on the secondary market, but bottles do occasionally show up on catawiki and similar sites.
Another new discovery for me was Monte dall’ Ora, a biodynamic-certified estate in Valpolicella which restored my faith in this appellation. Carlo’s Valpolicella Classico Sauseti has such joyful crushed berry fruit, purity and soft texture, it’s a kind of northern Italian Beaujolais Nouveau in the best sense. I need a case of it right now!
Two really brand new wines came from Luca Dellissanti, who made the first vintage of his label Okús (which means ‘taste’ in Slovene) in 2022. Based near Cormons, in the heart of the Collio, Luca has barely one hectare of vines but it’s enough to yield two delicious wines. Okús Bianco 23 is Friulano fermented for seven days on the skins without any wood. It has a beautiful lightness of touch, with a gentle prickle of tannins and an unfettered expressiveness. The Rosso 23 is Merlot with great structure and delicious, spicy fruit. The labels are stunning, and reminded me a little of Stefano Novello’s boy balancing on a chair. I guess walking along a tightrope is the metaphor for growing and making natural wine.
Let me squeeze in a mention for a couple more wines: Uros Rojac’s new Ré-fo-šk is a second collaborative label (with Boris Novak) that joins the lovable Borac. It’s a light and supremely drinkable Refošk with 12.5% (made in a region where this variety often ends up with 15%+) and I loved it.
Radikon pulled out all the stops, opening (among others) the last ever vintage (2006) of Stanko’s top reserve wine Fuori del Tempo. To the best of my knowledge this was only produced in three vintages, 2000, 2001 and 2006 - which is really blinding right now. A five litre bottle of Merlot 1994 was very much alive, still filled with spicy, muscular fruit. And it was a delight to try Pop, a new entry level line that Saša’s sister Ivana has taken under her wing. I only got to taste Pop Rosso, which blends Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a lovely lightweight, slightly funky Cabernet Franc-esque affair, with herby fruit and a very appealing rustic touch. Can’t wait to be in front of a bottle of this soon! The white is a blend with just two days of skin contact.
This event felt like the perfect way to round off a year, in a room full of familiar and friendly faces, in a part of the world I love for its warm embrace and its cross-border wonderfulness.
Happy birthday Stanko. Živijo!
