The 2009 Rujno is a ghost in a bottle. As the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vines used for this cuvée have since been uprooted, every glass feels like a preservation of history. 2009 provided enough warmth to allow for a whisper of botrytis even on the reds, lending the wine a decadent, multi-dimensional complexity. The nose is a dark symphony of plum compote, shaved chocolate, and medicinal herbs. Unlike the Breg, the Rujno is velvety and expansive, coating the palate with a richness that is balanced by an iron-like core. It possesses a "gravity" that few wines in the world can match—an emotional weight that lingers long after the glass is empty. A final, towering achievement from a vineyard that no longer exists.
2009 Gravner “Rujno” Rosso
99 PTS
— Orazio Campoli, February 2026
About the Producer
Josko Gravner is a visionary who changed the course of modern winemaking and is the godfather of the amber-wine movement. After years of producing successful technical wines, he grew disillusioned, abandoned modern technology and returned to the roots of winemaking, adopting the ancient Georgian method of fermenting in buried terracotta amphorae, or qvevri. His estate is in Oslavia, on the Slovenian border.
Ribolla Gialla is at the centre of his work. It ferments on its skins in the qvevri for months, then spends six years in large oak casks, emerging amber, tannic and profoundly complex — dried chamomile, honeycomb, incense, beeswax and apricot, with a meaty texture and a saline mineral core. It remains the benchmark against which other skin-contact wines are measured.
Gravner’s reds are just as uncompromising. Breg is 100% Pignolo, a difficult native grape sculpted by long rest into something savory, feral and vibrant. Rujno, from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon vines that have since been uprooted, is a wine from a vineyard that no longer exists, velvety, dark and deeply moving.