Join us on Sunday, 23 February for a pasta & wine lunch where it’s unapologetically noon at Bar Cicheti and we’re day-drinking 6 incredible cuvees by Damijan Podversic, the man who’s often lauded alongside Gravner and Radikon for bringing “orange wine” to the world’s attention in the last decades. His daughter and next-gen Friulian winemaker Tamara Podveseric will be joining us to share her family’s labour of love, and the nuances behind the winery that’s quietly powering the global orange revolution.
Featured wines:
Damijan Pinot Grigio Collio Bianco 2020
Damijan "Nekaj" Friulano Collio Bianco 2019
Damijan Malvasia Collio Bianco 2019
Damijan "Kaplja" Collio Bianco 2019 (Chardonnay, Friulano, Malvasia)
Damijan Ribolla Gialla Collio Bianco 2019
Damijan "Prelit" Rosso 2019 (Merlot, Cabernet)
Available by glass ($19++), bottle ($128++) and a sommakase flight of 3 ($55++)
Orange wine isn’t new. Far from it. 8,000 years ago, ancient Georgians were knee-deep in qveri jars of crushed whole grapes, long before wine had a name. Mostly forgotten for millennia, only to be declared TikTok’s “drink of the summer” last year, orange wine may just be the oldest It Girl the wine world has ever seen.
But long before it became a trendy tipple, Friulian winemakers the likes of Gravner, Radikon, and Damijan Podversic were busy reviving the ancient craft of skin-contact fermentation, in profound ways that redefined the movement—bringing depth, structure, and soul to wines that are destined for much more than a fleeting hot-girl-summer trend.
Perhaps that is why Damijan, mentee of Josko Gravner, doesn’t like to call his wines orange. For him, long maceration isn’t what makes great wine—it’s just a natural way to preserve the grape’s properties and express its terroir. The real magic? It happens in the vineyard.
On the slopes of Mount Calvario, he and his daughter Tamara Podversic cultivate indigenous grape varieties Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia Istriana, and Friulano, embracing biodynamic principles and harvesting only when the grape peels and seeds taste just right. The wines are macerated on the skin for months, before lying in the wooden bellies of large old oak for three years and one year in the bottle before they are released. The result? Wines that are intensely complex yet refined with balance and finesse.
It is these little nuances quietly powering the global phenomenon that you might uncover, when Tamara joins us on Sunday 23 December for a one-afternoon-only affair—six exceptional cuvées, saucy pasta, and the kind of conversation that only happens when the winemaker is in the room.
It doesn’t matter which side of the orange wine fence you sit on—you’d want a seat at this table. Book yours at book.barcicheti.com.