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It’s your chance to get a gorgeous magnum of Merlot from one of Italy’s premier natural wine producers--Radikon Merlot 2000. Stanislaus (or Stanko, as he is commonly known) tends to his vineyards with a father’s love, an academic’s attention to detail, and a farmer’s wisdom. Following an entirely non-interventionist approach, Radikon coaxes the most out of his grapes, and he continues his natural philosophies into the cellar. The result is wines that are intense, unique and crackling with life. This 2000 Merlot will change your perception of Merlot; it’s a deeply complex wine that shape-shifts from sauvage wildness to sweet fruit. Gloriously mature, this wine is integrated, balanced, and interesting and for one week from April 6 to April 12, 2012, you can get it at a particularly delicious price. Decant this wine for full enjoyment, and share it with the people you love. A magnum this beautiful deserves good company.
- Country: Italy
- Region: Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- Sub-region/Appellation: Collio Goriziano
Stanislao (Stanko) Radikon pursues a deceptively simple philosophy—the production of a wine that is wholly natural. In a world, however, where a wine’s stability takes precedence over authenticity, Radikon’s objective is paradoxically complex. These wines strike and stir one’s senses in all of their aspects—beginning with their appearance, which is uncommonly deep for a white wine. The aroma and palate are arresting—complex expressions that defy description or conversely, invite a myriad of words that can never quite get at everything that’s going on. Wines without compromise, they possess a fundamental connection to the past, which they deliver to the present without reservation.
There are two primary schools of thought defining Friulian winemaking: The late Mario Schiopetto inaugurated the first of these, a pure-varietal discipline that privileges the preservation of a grape’s character through stainless steel and temperature control. The second, headlined initially by Josko Gravner, advocates the use of barrique fermentation and aging. There is also a third contingent—one comprised of minds that pursue a decidedly alternative course—one in which they do not follow, but lead an individual exploration. Interestingly, the members of this set are associated primarily through their fierce independence and avant garde approaches, rather than specific practices. Principal among these is Radikon, whose methodology is radical in its pragmatic evocation of the winemaking style that defined Friulian production prior to the 1930s. His techniques comprise what some deem the “Slovenian” style of Friulian winemaking—extended maceration periods, the use of large oak barrels, and manual harvesting. This approach, however, is best known, perhaps, by what it rejects—namely, chemical pesticides, temperature-controlled fermentation, and sulfur.
This return to tradition may seem a romantic venture, but it is one that is attended by high risk. Radikon began moving towards a sulfite-free production in the 1999 vintage, in which sulfites were used only minimally. The 2002 vintage represents his first vinification sans added-in sulfites. This omission renders his wines very unstable—yet also contributes to their provocative and genuine rendering of the style of wine produced by his grandfather, Franz Mikulus, who founded the Radikon estate. Intriguingly, however, Radikon’s homage to the past is most profound in his intensive study of the conditions by which his wines may realize their potential maturation. This appeal to the modern characterized his efforts to identify the type of cork best suited to the aging of his wines. He discovered that the ideal cork possessed thinner strands than those present in the corks used for 750-ml bottles. In order to maximize the use of this cork, Radikon instituted the development of a bottle shape that complemented the width of the cork. He debuted 1-liter and half-liter bottles with a narrow neck in the 2002 vintage—a move that increased ’02’s disarmingly bold attitude.
Radikon’s viticultural practices include dense planting and an intensive pruning regimen, efforts that are maximized by a rigorous process of selection. All Radikon wines are essentially vinified in accordance with the same noninterventionist protocol. The standard regime entails an extended 30-day maceration period in Slavonian oak vats, a process that is conducted without temperature control. Thereafter, the wine is aged in large Slavonian botti for approximately 3 years prior to bottling. Radikon’s wines present a pronounced profile and realize an aging period of 15 years. The indigenous Ribolla Gialla was the sole varietal planted by Mikulus, although his daughter and son-in-law—Stanislao’s parents—expanded this solo varietal representation by adding Merlot, Tocai Friulano, and Pinot Grigio. It is Radikon’s firm belief, however, that the Ribolla Gialla grape—the favored varietal of Friuli’s iconoclasts—provides the most profound articulation of Collio’s terroir. Since 1980, Stanislao has overseen the estate’s production, sourced from 12 hectares; he is presently assisted by his wife, Suzana, and his son, Sasa.
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