On our visit to Sandi Skerk, we tried:
1.-4. From barrel: Malvasia '15, '14, '13; Vitovska '13: Too young to tell much about these unfinished wines, no TN's.
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5. Skerk Vitovska (12%) 2012: Light orange/bronze color; quite perfumed/floral rather herbal/fresh cut hay light resiny/phenolic complex nose; quite tart rather lean/hard/minerally/stony light floral some austere/phenolic/resiny but honeyed/orangey quite complex flavor w/ light hard tannic bite; very long austere some phenolic/resiny complex/mineral finish; needs some time yet.
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6. Skerk Malvasia (13.5%) 2012: Light orange color; very perfumed/fragrant lightly phenolic/resiny/orangey quite floral/aromatic lightly muscatty bit stony/mineral nose; rather dry/austere/tart some floral/muscatty/fragrant bit resiny/phenolic/skin-contact some earthy/mineral/stony flavor w/ light tannic bite; very long dry/austere/tart light muscatty/floral/perfumed finish; a lovely fragrance w/ some austere phenolic character.
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7. Skerk Ograde Bianco (13.5%; Malvasia/Vitovska /PinotGrigio 2012: Light copper color; very light floral/muscatty/honeyed earthy/stony/mineral quite phenolic/resiny/leesy/orangey/cidery very complex nose; quite tart/austere/dry light floral/muscatty very phenolic/resiny/leesy some stony/mineral/chalky quite complex flavor w/ ample hard/austere/angular tannins; very long/lingering resiny/phenolic/austere very complex finish; rather tannic & austere and badly needs food w/ it; Sand thinks about 10 yrs is needed for this wine; obviously a great/profound wine but hard to taste on its own.
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8. Skerk Terrano (12%) 2012: Dark color; strong black cherry/blackberry/Refosco slight herbal/new mown hay/earthy/mineral/loamy quite aromatic complex nose; lightly tart strong black cherry/black cherry cola/blackberry/Refosco light earthy/loamy/herbal/mineral bit complex finish w/ ample round/smooth tannins; very long/lingering bit tart some herbal/earthy/loamy/mineral strong black cherry cola/blueberry finish w/ some round/smooth tannins; not the ripe plummy character of many Friuli Refoscos and more mineral/earthy; quite a lovely/interesting red that needs more age.
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9. Skerk Terrano (15%; Old vnyd; RS: 0.2 gm/100ml) 2011: Very dark color; very intense ripe/black cherry/black cherry cola/blackberry/licorice/Refosco bit earthy/mineral/loamy slight alcoholic quite aromatic complex lovely nose; very lightly tart strong ripe/black cherry cola/blackberry/Refosco/licorice ripe/bit Recioto-like/pungent some earthy/loamy/dusty flavor w/ ample ripe/lush/bit hard tannins; very long/lingering structured strong ripe/black cherry cola/licorice bit earthy/mineral very complex finish w/ some ripe/lush tannins; lots of ripeness but not over into the overripe/plummy territory; needs much age; truly a profound red.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. About 3 yrs ago, OliverMcCrum started importing the wines of SandiSkerk, from the Carso region of Friuli just North of Trieste. Sandi makes wines via "natural" winemaking. But Oliver is a stickler for clean wines and would not carry them if they showed any of the flaws of some "natural" wines. The wines we tried were perfectly clean and showed no funkiness you sometimes find in "natural" wines.
We tasted thru Oliver's Skerk lineup almost 2 yrs ago & I was mightly impressed by them. Sandi makes his white wines w/ skin-contact. But because they are not made in an oxidative manner (a la Radikon or Gravner), they are not what I call "orange" wines...though they do have some orange color. After fermentation, they are put to barrel and raised in a reductive manner. Though they display plenty of "phenolic" character, they walk very well that fine line between phenolic and the inherent fruit of the grape variety. Amazingly delicious/complex wines.
So...when we were planning our trip in Oct to Friuli, SandiSkerk was on the top of my list of producers to visit. With Oliver's assistance, an appt was made. SandiSkerk's wnry is located in Duino Aurisina/Prepotto. Damnably tough to find. Though we had the address, the GPS was not of great assistance in locating the wnry. Finally..we had to call from the middle of town and Sandi's father walked out to guide us (in the middle of a steady rain). The place is located out in the countryside in the middle of nowhere...just a stone's throw from the Slovene border.
The Skerk WebSite: Skerk
doesn't seem to be operable w/ my browser. I had better luck with:
Skerk
There are some beautiful pics in the MissClaire Site:
CantinaSkerk/MissClaire
JonBonne has an interesting writeup on wines from the Carso:
Bonne/Carso
The scenery in the Carso is beautiful w/ rolling hills. The land is riven w/ limestone. Underground caverns and rivers are pervasive. The limestone & red earth soils surely contribute to the uniqueness of the wines from here.
After introductions and the exchange of pleasantries in the tasting room, we adjourned to the vnyds and the wnry. The continual drizzle that afternoon prevented any actual walking of the vnyds, so just a view from below the wnry at the large ampitheatre harboring his vnyds.
The wnry (producing about 6,000 cs/yr) is a small one dug out of the Carso limestone and rather rustic....though absolutely clean. Water is dripping everywhere, attesting to the porosity of the soil (or the roof of the wnry). In the centre of the underground cellars is a large (1-2 meters in diameter) vertical cave, not totally explored, that's over 200 meters deep. It provides natural cooling to the cellar. The MissClaire Site above has great pics of this cave and Sandi's cellars.
Fermentation is typical done in large oak uprights. Skin-contact is typically about a month, giving the whites some orange color. The finished wine is then put to barrel and raised in a reductive fashion.
Sandi's whites are Malvasia (Istriana), Vitovska (an autochthonous grape of the Carso), and Ograde (his top of the line blend of the best grapes). He has small plantings of Sauvignon and PinotGrigio I believe.
And Glera. Glera is a rather neutral grape that was made near the town of Prosecco in the province of Trieste, just south of Sandi and north of Trieste. The folks up in Conegliano-Valdobbiadene/Veneto took the grape variety Glera and ran w/ it. In 2009, they renamed Glera to Prosecco so nobody else could call their sparkling Glera Prosecco.....presumably including the original/true Prosecco in Carso.
His red comes from the Terrano (or Teran), a variety of Slovenian origins. It is a member of the Refosco family (Refosco dal Peduncolo Verde) and known as Refosk in the Karst region of Slovenia. Sandi related that, as of the day of our visit, the grape name Terrano was no longer permitted to be used in Italy. How that will shake out eventually is not clear.
As we were leaving the wnry & tasting, grasping tightly to our umbrellas, and parting company there on the street; I noticed a large bldg above the road that was in the final stages of construction. Then I noticed the lettering on the end of the bldg.."Zidarich". Another of my favorite Karst producers and much in the same style of Sandi's wines.
I left w/ Sandi a btl of the '13 CowanCllrs RibollaGialla...so he could try one of Calif's best skin-contact whites. Not yet got a report back from Sandi.
Anyway....SandiSkerk is making some pretty profound wines, I think. Worth tracking down if there are any of Oliver's wines in your area. And a great place to do a visit.
Oliver relates that Sandi will be coming to Calif in the late Jan/Feb time frame to do some tastings in LosAngeles/Bay area.
Tom