{"id":280857,"date":"2026-02-20T13:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/?p=280857"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:45:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:45:05","slug":"italian-milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/2026\/02\/20\/italian-milestones\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy\u2019s wine pillars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Last November, at the third edition of Augusta<\/strong> (the natural wine fair in Turin<\/strong>), I took part in a little game: “who do you throw down from the tower?”. Simple, or at least it seemed so: you were given two producers’ names and had to choose who to keep (and who, inevitably, to throw). Then, in rotation, you would challenge a new name… and so on, until you were left with a single saved one, the winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose to play with the Italian producers present at the event. First round: Elio Sandri against… I don’t remember who. I smiled, thinking that the game would end there: Sandri was untouchable due to my personal passion for his Barolo, and I would have bet that he would have outshone all the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the impossible moment: who do you keep between Elio Sandri<\/strong> and Radikon<\/strong>? Panic. Two sacred monsters, of incomparable cultural value in the world of Italian natural wine. Three seconds of reflection, which in my mind last for fifteen minutes, and I choose: I throw down Sandri, I keep Radikon, even to make the game more fun. I remember the first Ribolla Gialla from Radikon I drank over ten years ago, totally ignorant on the subject… and I understand that personal impact is worth more than any passionate criteria. At the end of the little game, Radikon crushes the other competitors. But in my mind, bigger thoughts start swirling: what does it really mean to be pioneers? What does it mean to be a pillar? <\/mark>And how often the difference between one wine and another lies not only in the glass, but also in the cultural impact and the ability to leave an indelible mark in the collective memory of Italian wine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a pioneer is a thankless job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one is waiting for you, no one is applauding you, no one exactly understands what you’re doing while you do it, sometimes not even yourself. You proceed on instinct, on obsession, on a kind of stubbornness. Being a pioneer means having the courage to go it alone, knowing that the world could ignore you, ridicule you, not understand, and doing it anyway. Being pioneers means arriving too early, perhaps. Too early for the right words to exist. Too early for the right markets to exist. All pioneers share an inevitable phase: the one where they seem weirdos, the one where they are misunderstood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the world of wine, this condition takes on an almost tragicomic form because it is a tendentially conservative, slow environment, full of rituals, hierarchies, and truths that seem carved in stone but are often actually carved in marketing. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, progress had only one direction: control. Of fermentation, aromas, results, and the wine had to be predictable, replicable, reassuring. It couldn’t be alive; it had to behave well. However, throughout Italy, there were individuals who did exactly the opposite, not because they wanted to be revolutionary, but because they didn’t want to stop being farmers. They were doing what we now call natural wine without it being called that way<\/mark>. Elio Sandri and Stanko Radikon were those winemakers, the ones we now look at with extreme respect \u2013 even devotion \u2013 yet at their time, they were the outsiders, the different, or even worse, invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they were among the pioneers, those who decided to take the most difficult step: making wine according to their own vision, without compromises, without knowing that one day the world would call them “pillars.” A milestone is not necessarily visible when it is placed, not designed to be celebrated. But, over time, it becomes impossible to ignore it, because everything that comes after, in one way or another, is oriented in relation to its presence. Pioneers are those who arrive first, while pillars are not necessarily the ones that arrive first, they are the ones that persevere, insist, remain. For a long time.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Foto by Clay McLachlan for Cook_inc. 33<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Elio Sandri<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Langhe<\/strong> is a land that has learned to survive its own success. Precise, orderly hills, almost too beautiful to be real. Mist gliding over the rows in autumn\/winter and Nebbiolo, which is not a democratic grape variety: it doesn’t want to please everyone, it wants to be respected. And those who truly listen to it, like Elio Sandri<\/a><\/strong>, know this. Sandri didn’t learn to respect Nebbiolo from books or teachers. He learned it by living in the vineyard, observing it every day. He’s a listener, Elio is, and his wines tell this story<\/mark>. They are “Rich without being heavy,” as he says. Light and deep at the same time, harmonious, accomplices of the land. His Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto are the pure exaltation of the Langhe, classic without being stale, intense without being overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Barolo was becoming a global product and the pressure for a smoother and more international style was growing, Sandri remained immobile, impervious to trends. His company, Cascina Disa<\/strong><\/a> in Monforte d’Alba<\/strong>, never sought to adapt. The vineyards in Monforte d\u2019Alba are cultivated with a level of care that we would now call radical, but for him, it has always been simple normality. Every gesture, every decision, arises from respect for the plant, for the fruit, and, above all, for time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Foto di Clay McLachlan per Cook_inc. 33<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Barolo traditionalists and modernists, Sandri is not classifiable. He is both and neither, because his reference is not style, but time. He often repeats:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Every wine has its time, every wine has its times.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because time is his ally and his trump card. There is no fixed protocol for him, Sandri’s secret is not a miraculous technique, but a patient and consistent approach. Each vintage is different, each fermentation evolves uniquely. His work is about accompanying the wine, not directing it. Large barrels or concrete, longer or shorter refinements: every decision comes from observation, never from habit, each harvest requires a different path. This approach requires a rare quality: trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why Sandri is a pillar: not for awards or accolades, but because he managed to remain true to himself over time. Because he turned the daily act of winemaking into something that transcends the glass. Because each of his choices had consequences on how Barolo is made and perceived, on the respect for grapevines and the territory, without ever pushing too hard. The result is that his wines do not belong to a specific era. They are neither modern nor traditional. They are, simply put, authentic.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today Elio Sandri is supported by his daughter and son, Luna<\/strong> and Riccardo<\/strong>, and with great joy, he is giving them space and, most importantly, time. Just as his father did with him, he allows them to experiment, learn from mistakes, and find their own path. The method remains unchanged: independence, freedom, respect, responsibility, listening. No rush, no compromises. In his wines, the Langhe region speaks softly, but with a clear and coherent voice, giving that rare sensation of something that exists exactly as it should. Drinking a bottle of Elio Sandri means immersing oneself in the silent patience and wisdom of someone who knows that wine is about time, listening, and perseverance. It’s understanding that greatness is not immediate, but reveals itself calmly, like a stone slowly shaping the structure of a building, invisible at the beginning, yet indispensable in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radikon<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If Elio Sandri represents continuity, Radikon<\/a><\/strong> represents a break. We are in Oslavia<\/strong>, in the Collio<\/strong>. A land of borders, in the most concrete and symbolic sense possible: a geographical border between Italy and Slovenia; a cultural border between different worlds; a historical border, crossed by wars, migrations, transformations. Here, Stanko Radikon<\/strong> challenged one of the most entrenched certainties of modern wine: that white wine must be white. The ancient and austere Ribolla Gialla grape, almost timid, in Radikon’s hands has become something else: no longer a light, immediate, predictable wine. Instead, it has transformed into a structured, tannic, deep wine defined by its ability to evolve. A wine that demands time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanko’s revolution was silent, conceptual, dictated by the idea of not rushing. He decided that local whites should not conform to expectations, should not be predictable, and he began macerating. Suzana, his wife, who experienced the company’s history firsthand, explains: “Since 1980 – when Stanko took over the family business – we started bottling, but the oenologist wanted them to be technically perfect, standardized. Ribolla Gialla is good even as a grape to eat, but as a wine, if you immediately press it, it becomes something simple, not something that excites you. In 1995, things changed; we made two barriques with wine that underwent maceration for a year. Clearly, it wasn’t a wine to drink immediately; the tannins needed time to soften. From then on, we made the breakthrough, and since ’97, we started macerating all our wines. It was something that was already done; when I arrived in Oslavia, my father-in-law did it in chestnut and acacia wood barrels because there was wood here. Then it stopped being done.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo from Radikon Wines Facebook page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The long macerations were not madness for Stanko, but memory. Ancient, almost forgotten practices, recovered with discipline and passion. And above all, they were a way to transform whites into structure, complexity, stability with acidity capable of supporting years of evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninety, one hundred eighty, three hundred sixty days of maceration on the skins. For the modern world, an eternity. For him, necessary. Amber color, scents difficult to name: dried apricot, tea, resin, leather, wind. Yes, wind. Some of Radikon’s wines taste of wind. The first time you taste a Radikon, you’re not sure if you like it. It’s exciting, destabilizing. It’s an encounter with something new that you recognize as deeply true. And that’s precisely the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Radikon didn’t just produce different wines, but changed the perception of what white wine could be by transforming it into orange wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the passing of Stanko in 2016, the company has been led by his son Sa\u0161a Radikon<\/strong> \u2013 a graduate in oenology \u2013 his wife Suzana Saksid<\/strong>a, daughters Ivana<\/strong> and Savina Radikon<\/strong>, and Luisa Blasizza<\/strong> (Sa\u0161a’s wife). They continue Stanko’s teachings: to listen, observe, let time take its course, each with their own personalities. Embracing new interpretations and reflections, like the S line born in 2009 from an idea by Sa\u0161a, developed together with Stanko. During that time, orange wines existed but were not as well-known as today. Those who had tasted all of Radikon’s wines had acquired a taste for them, but for newcomers, it was challenging. There was a need for a wine that could serve as an introduction. And so, the wines with shorter macerations \u2013 a couple of weeks on the skins, a year in barrels, and at least four months in the bottle \u2013 bring to mind the ones you know but with tannins, structure, making it easier to approach this world. In recent years, Ivana, who is twenty-eight, launched a new Radikon line of products called POP: a red and a white, with very brief macerations (2\/4 days), less than a year in steel, and a few months in the bottle. More immediate wines, born from a five-hectare vineyard beyond the border, in Slovenia. These wines are dedicated to the border and all the peoples who have lived and crossed it because they contain both the indigenous grape varieties of the area and the international ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo from Radikon Wines Facebook page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Photo from Radikon Wines Facebook page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Drinking a Radikon wine means engaging with time differently, in a glass. It means understanding the value of risk, perseverance, and freedom. Radikon’s wines are pillars that have become impossible to ignore. Ribolla Gialla, symbolizing Stanko and his family’s courage, is an emblem of Italian natural wine.<\/mark> It’s an encounter with the ability to see beyond the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzana reflects on these over thirty years of revolution in which she participated and contributed firsthand. “A lot has changed, my husband always used to say macerated wine is the wine of the future<\/mark>, back in ’95, and he was absolutely right. Much has changed in all of Italy but also in the world, even big merchants are making macerated wine, they do it because it’s a trend, we do it because we believe in it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What unites these realities is not a common style, but a common position. Today, those who drink natural wine in Italy and around the world are following paths paved by these pillars. Without wineries like Sandri and Radikon, the landscape of Italian artisanal wine would be very different. They have influenced generations of winemakers, teaching that wine is not just business: it is art, philosophy, culture. They have shown that sincerity pays off, that consistency creates bonds, that respect for the land generates beauty. And it’s not just a matter of techniques or practices: it’s a way of thinking about wine, of conceiving it as something that goes beyond the glass, beyond the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s a way of thinking about the time of wine.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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