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Region
Friuli
Grape
75% Merlot/25% Pignolo
Farming
Organic
Notes
Unfined/Unfiltered

RS (Rosso Sassa)

Radikon

50

In north-east Italy, 300m from Slovenia, you’ll find the town of Oslavia, and Saša Radikon, who is tasked with continuing the work of an exceptional wine family. That the Radikon reputation is so revered is thanks to the work of the intrepid Stanislao (Stanko) Radikon. Stanko was obsessive about producing pleasurable, natural wine, aiming for the “maximum expression of nature” at all times.

The Radikon land was originally planted with indigenous Ribolla Gialla grape by Stanko’s grandfather, Franz Mikulus, shortly after World War 2, and was joined by Merlot, Friulano, and Pinot Grigio thanks to Stanko’s parents, who took over the domaine. Stanko began bottling in 1979, but it took time to achieve the heights he is so fondly remembered for. He started with commercial winemaking, but, not so thrilled with the results, decided to go backwards. Stanko wanted to make wine like his grandfather- unburdened by modern commercial winemaking tools and techniques.

Stanko is a risk-tasker and a man of character. Radikon lost a lot of customers thanks to what was seen as pretty radical winemaking, but he was steadfast in his plans, and the principles of his goals are hard to argue with. If pesticides were on the skins, how could the juice be properly macerated? Stanko wanted purity, wine of a time before chemicals and technology that took him farther from his ancestor’s winemaking. Wine should express culture, place, people, history- you begin to fuss with it too much, and you start losing the details.

Skin-contact and stability stand out with Radikon wine. Stanko experimented with a variety of skin-maceration time, settling on 3 months of skin maceration and 6 years of aging in the cellar. Stanko’s grandfather wanted to make wine that lasted a long time, and extended skin contact helped him achieve that. On top of that, he slimmed down the neck of his bottles and constructed a new cork, allowing as little air as possible to get through, and constructed the prototype bottle himself. What most find surprising about the stability and ageability of Radikon’s wines is the complete lack of sulfur- he stopped adding any at all in 2002. You can thank the extended skin contact for the preservation that allows them to forego sulfur. To take it even one step further, Stanko insisted on 500mL and 1L bottle sizes- you share two 500’s with dinner, or a one liter bottle.

Stanko Radikon seems almost like a mythical figure- so in tune with winemaking of the past, producing wine of exceptional craftsmanship and stability, nailing a style that is now as trendy as can be, yet controversial when he jumped in, and gone well before his time. After producing 36 vintages, he passed away at age 62 in 2016. Saša leads the way for Radikon since, and he’s as much a star as his father. He’s been deeply involved since childhood- he grew up among the vines, learning more in the cellar than he did studying oenology. Saša is a skilled winemaker with his own voice, reflected in the recent vintages of “S” wines from Radikon- shorter maceration, at 10-14 days, and just one year of aging in the cellar. Saša emphasizes work in the vines as the most important part of the Radikon operation. Without taking good care of your grapes, you can’t produce excellent wine. All vineyard work is done manually without herbicides or pesticides, and the vines are carefully pruned to produce low yields of perfect fruit.

75% Merlot/25% Pignolo. The vines are planted on ponca, a compressed, flaky clay of marl and sandstone that is typical in this part of Friuli. They grow on a south-facing slope right by the winery; average around 30 years old; yield about 45 hl/ha; and are farmed organically and harvested by hand like all Radikon vineyards. The grapes are destemmed and spontaneously co-fermented in 25-hectoliter oak vats without the addition of yeasts, sulfur or temperature control. Maceration is about two weeks with punchdowns 3-4 times per day initially. The wine is aged in vat for two years and bottled without fining or filtering. “RS” or “Rosso Sasa” debuted in 2014, was made again in 2017 and once more in 2018; it is part of the 750-ml “S-line”, the “S” being for its creator, Sasa Radikon.

-Bowler
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