On the narrow limestone plateau of Carso, where fierce bora winds whip off the Adriatic and the soil is barely a hand's depth above ancient rock, Sandi Skerk tends some of the most singular vines in all of Italy.
Roots in the Carso-Kras
Skerk's property sits in the tiny village of Prepotto, a few hundred meters from the Slovenian border in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The region is culturally and linguistically hybrid -- Sandi speaks Slovenian at home -- and its native grape varieties reflect that borderland identity. Vitovska, Malvasia Istriana, and Terrano are all grapes deeply tied to this strip of territory that exists nowhere else with the same character.
A Reluctant Return
Sandi initially turned away from winemaking, studying engineering and working in an office. By 2000, after his grandfather's passing, he returned to the family's 7-hectare estate and began a conversion to organic farming and natural winemaking. He has spoken about his profound respect for his grandfather's methods, which guided him toward extended skin contact on whites and minimal intervention throughout.
Cellar Carved from Limestone
The Skerk cellar descends more than 75 feet into the limestone bedrock, providing natural temperature stability without mechanical climate control. Whites undergo extended maceration -- days to weeks of skin contact -- then age two years in large Slavonian oak barrels, moving progressively to larger vessels. The result is wines of striking depth, amber hue, and a mineral salinity that carries the sea air of the nearby Adriatic.
Patience as Philosophy
Skerk adds nothing during fermentation, relying entirely on indigenous yeasts. A small amount of sulfite is added only at bottling. His approach is described as "low intervention by nature, but also extremely careful" -- quiet watchfulness rather than abandonment. The wines, especially Vitovska and Ograde, reward cellaring and have found devoted followings among collectors of orange wine and natural Italian producers alike.
