Radikon Jakot 2016 500ml (Orange Wine)

Jakot Radikon Orange Wine, biodynamic wine, no added sulphur, long skin contact, complex, savoury, amazing. Jakot is a backwards play on Tocai (Tokaj), which is no longer allowed to be used in Italy and is now generally marketed as Friulano. Lovely, fresh and well balanced with notes of stone fruit and almonds. Jakot is one of Stanko Radikon’s long macerated whites spending over 3 months on the skins. Although to some extent this is the extreme end of the orange wine world, it is remarkably approachable wine and with the right kind of Friulian gelatinous stew, it is fantastic. Try it too with a big plate of Italian Salumi including some good ‘Lardo’ spread on crusty bread, superb!

Radikon is a 12 hectare estate in Friuli on the Slovenian border of Italy, and is a truly unique winery.  It lies in the heartland of a region which has become synonymous with skin contact and Orange wine.

The king of orange wines as far as we are concerned is Radikon. Stanko Radikon lead this groundbreaking winery from 1995.  He revitalised skin contact for white wine and helped also pave the way for the natural wine movement.  He realised back then that the local indigenous grape, Ribolla Gialla, needed to be treated differently to other varieties.  He turned to his Grandfather’s method of vinification.  This involved seven days of skin maceration.  Stanko continued to experiment with this technique over the years.  He refined and perfected it along the way and also employed biodynamic principles at the winery. 

Today's classic wines made from Ribolla and Friulano have around three months of maceration, with long periods of barrel and bottle ageing.  These stunning bottles are in 500ml and 1 litre formats with thin bottle necks and corks.  Radikon believes these special bottles and corks help the ageing process in bottle.  These are wines which will age beautifully for well over 10 years.  Radikon also make a range of earlier drinking wines with a shorter skin maceration. 

The wines are truly fascinating, with unbelievable complexity, profound flavours yet immense freshness. 

Since Stanko sadly passed away in 2016, his son Saša continues in his father's tradition.  He maintains the same high standards and attention to detail.  Some would say he is making even better wine than his Father.