Stanko Radikon has been called a “maverick in a land of mavericks” where he farms and makes wine near the town of Oslavia. This place is Italian, Friuli, but right on the border with Slovenia, which is the Radikon ethnic homeland. Here’s one of the true pioneers of orange wine, made in the natural style. In Stanko Radikon’s words: “The winery’s philosophy is to always make a natural, organic wine with the least human intervention possible and with the maximum respect for the soils and nature.” Unfortunately, he passed away in 2016, but his son Saša still carries this ethos. Ribolla Gialla is Friuli’s indigenous grape, and here it ferments in old Slavonian oak vats with native yeasts and macerates on skins for around three months. Then it is aged on its lees for several years, and then aged several more in the bottle