Damijan Podversic-Friuli-Venezia Giulia-Italy

Damijan Podversic is one of Friuli’s most respected voices in skin-contact winemaking, carrying forward the radical vision sparked by his mentor, Josko Gravner. Working in the Collio hills on the Slovenian border, Damijan farms organically on the region’s ponca soils — brittle layers of marl and sandstone that crumble by hand and give wines their distinctive salty, mineral backbone. The vineyards sit in a special crossroads of climate: cooled by breezes from the Julian Alps, yet warmed by the Adriatic Sea.

What sets Damijan apart is his belief that white grapes can carry the gravitas of great reds when treated with patience. Ribolla Gialla, Friulano, and Malvasia spend 60–90 days fermenting on their skins in large oak vats, a practice that extracts tannin, texture, and aromatic depth. The wines then rest quietly for three years in large casks and a further year in bottle before release. This slow rhythm produces wines that are luminous and layered — honeyed stone fruits, dried flowers, spice, and a subtle bitterness that keeps them alive on the palate.

Damijan’s bottles aren’t just “orange wines,” they are lessons in time and terroir. They show that Friuli’s whites, when given patience and air, can age and evolve like fine reds, gaining complexity for decades. His approach has inspired a generation of growers, and today his wines stand as benchmarks of integrity and expressive winemaking in Italy.