Skurnik Unfiltered

“I think there’s this moment in wine now where people are being more honest with themselves. I want to make the wines I believe in and that I want to consume, and then I’m going to find my audience; I’m not going to make wine for an audience. For me, it’s more about a job well done.” – Justin Willett When people talk about wines from Santa Barbara, they're probably talking about the Santa Yne...

"We're in the business of making agricultural wines, and I think we need to make a distinction right here between agricultural wine and industrial wine. A lot of these vineyards that have these really amazing histories attributed to them also have people with interesting histories. It's not selling the widgets—it's teasing out the stories about these very authentic places and t...

"Spirits, when they are at their best, are about facilitating joy and connection and building community. If we can be a small part of that in any way, then I think we've done our job." – Tom Jackson June is Pride Month, but Tom Jackson likes to say he's Supergay for 365 days a year. After an advertising career and founding the iconic GAYLETTER magazine, Tom launched Supergay Sp...

“If you want to make exceptional wine, you have to feel at home because it’s about so many little things—little things that you have to observe and feel and catch over the season to make the wine. It’s always important to be there and to feel the place.” – Nicola Libelli Nicola Libelli feels at home in the Pfalz. Though he was born and raised in Northern Italy, a taste of 1992 Merkelbach Kinheimer...

“I think joyful, colorful people can still make beautiful, classically-styled, serious wines.” – Corinne Rich The standard California playbook of Chardonnay and Cabernet often overshadows a rich history of alternative varieties perfectly suited for the modern climate. This week’s episode features two guests: Corinne Rich and Katie Rouse, the partners and winemakers behind Birdhorse . Balancing the...

"As a brand, you have to have an identity. It's easy to just make products, but why you exist is much more important that what you produce. The "why" for us is recreating this classic New York rye style that hadn't been around for over 100 years." – Alex Clark The Battle of Brooklyn began over stolen fruit in a neighborhood watermelon patch, a piece of borough history...

The biggest spirits event of the year is right around the corner. Bar Convent Brooklyn is an annual 2-day festival of tastings and seminars from the best in the spirits business. In preparation for Skurnik’s third appearance at BCB, we’re giving you a bonus episode inside our spirits portfolio with Adam Schuman (Spirits Portfolio Director) and Amanda Elder (Spirits Content & Education Manager)...

"If you're really tapped into what wine is, giving back is a very natural extension of that. You realize that wine exists in this harmony with its environment, and if you're not giving back out to that environment, you're like the dead end in the ecosystem. It's important that the ecosystem keeps moving around and that good keeps flowing in all directions." – Noah Dor...

"Perfection in a spirit is to do things very consistently and don't change things. I'm certainly not perfect, but I think what we're doing at the distillery is close to the best whisky I've made for a long, long time. It's grain to glass, and it's all grown and made in New York State." – Shane Fraser Tenmile Distillery in Wassaic, NY is making the closest th...

"Sool is an ancient style of rice wine. It has over two-thousand years of documented history. Our style is distinctly influenced by the style of brews that I grew up with—a wilder, more natural, more gastronomical style of Korean wine. And for those who are curious about going deeper, there is always something more." – Alice Jun Alice Jun remembers makgeolli as an important ingredient of...

“Wine has always been in change, in movement. The wine that we drink now is not the same wine that was drunk a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. For a revolution, you have to go back to the past to see what you have missed, and then bring it back.” – Ricardo Peñalba  More than a winemaker, Ricardo Peñalba is a self-proclaimed "wine ideologist." When he's out walking the ro...

"If a wine is trying to copy somewhere else or be something else, it might taste good, but it needs to have an authenticity and a sense of place to it, and it must be balanced and beautiful to drink. If a wine can put those two concepts together, for me, it's a perfect wine." – Chris Mullineux  For decades, South Africa’s Swartland region was dominated by industrial farming cooperat...

"Everything that we do is very pure. We are mingled or entangled with other species, with the trees, with everything. That's one of the purposes of this tequila: not only producing tequila, but maintaining the harmony and equilibrium with the surroundings." – Daday Suárez Daday Suárez is a completionist. When he was wrestling with questions of reality and being, he got a degree in p...

“Normally you have a best friend, and sometimes you see each other on weekends, but we are in the same business. We feel lucky. You can’t find it a second time in the world.” – Bernhard Ott If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. History is full of contemporaries who share visions of success, who, instead of competing, mentor and encourage the other to become greater...

"I'm very proud to be Mexican. I love my people, I love my country, and we love what we are doing. We do our part with passion, with honesty, with everything that we can with our hands. We are people from the field. We are rancheros, and we feel proud of this. It's our task." – Sergio Vivanco For five generations, the Vivanco family has been growing agave in Arandas, in the Jal...

“This is one reason why family wineries are so important. My father is 82, and he’s supporting, in all the ways, the planting of vineyards that he will not see the full potential of. This multi-generational commitment to viticulture, this multi-generational commitment to caring for the land—that’s why families are so important.” – Jasmine Hirsch The Hirsch family are farmers, though it took decade...

“They didn’t believe that I could do the work. And today, the girls are proving how sometimes the impossible can become normal.” – Chiara Boschis   As recently as the 1990s, Barolo and the surrounding villages were not ready for a woman to be in charge. When Chiara Boschis championed innovations like new oak barrels, organic farming, and green harvesting in a region that was firmly set in its trad...

"We're aiming for a mineral-driven, sharper, cooler style. Very fine, very precise, more focus, more finesse, more character." – Lara Haag The Schloss Lieser estate boasts one of the most privileged vineyard portfolios of the Middle Mosel, with famed sites like Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Brauneberger Juffer, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Bernkasteler Doctor creating incredibly sharp and pr...

"You know, trends come and go, but I think there always is an evolution. I think the way I try to approach wine and food and anything else in life, even fashion, is to like what you like and trust your gut." – Martha Stoumen Martha Stoumen is a first generation winemaker from California known for her fresh and youthful wines of primarily Italian varieties. After apprenticing with Giusto...

"For me, it’s very important to know where your roots are when you’re making wine. And I know exactly which kind of wine I want to make: it’s wine that most expresses where it comes from." – Cyprien Arlaud The third generation of his family estate in Morey St. Denis, Cyprien Arlaud of Domaine Arlaud is regarded by many as one of the most respected farmers and winemakers in Burgundy today...

“To work by animal traction, 40% grade vineyards, on slate, at 1,000m of altitude, that are 45 minutes from anything else—all the best producers are going more and more into geographically specific bottlings.” – Max Working In December, we sent our Iberian wine specialists to take the pulse of what’s new and exciting in Portugal and Galicia. Matt Wolfe and Max Working tasted the wines of nine prod...

“What I’m looking for is very personal. It’s like a sound in the wine. And that sound is defined by something I love. Like a musician, I was always looking for my personal sound, and that sound comes easy with País.” – Pedro Parra  Pedro Parra is a world-renowned winemaker, saxophone player, and vineyard consultant from Chile—and one of the few individuals with a PhD from the Paris Center of Agric...

"Reducing the barriers to getting into Scotch, I think, is really important for bringing new consumers from all walks of life in and making them feel welcome. The whole point of Nc'nean is whisky for everybody." – Annabel Thomas Annabel Thomas is the founder of the most sustainable distillery in the world, Nc’nean . Nestled in the Western Highlands of Scotland, Nc’nean is completely...

“I think many consumers, many somms, think of it as a great supermarket wine for the money. But I think Chile’s still got much more to show. Many people when they taste these wines, the first thing they say is, ‘But that’s not Chilean.’ But it is more Chilean than what your image of Chile is.” – Derek Mossman Since 2006, Derek Mossman and his wife, Pilar, have been working alongside local farmers...

"We're not making year-to-year decisions—we're making generational decisions. And that feels like the only just way to treat and respect all of the efforts that have preceded us." – Jason Kesner  Today’s guest is Jason Kesner, the longtime winemaker of Kistler Vineyards , one of California’s most esteemed producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Having worked alongside founder S...