"There's a time when a vineyard becomes of a certain age where we're not actually drinking varietals anymore—we're drinking place. The vines are part of the soil, they're part of the land, and they're telling the story of where they grow." – Marelise Niemann

While her neighbors fuss over Chenin Blanc and Pinotage, Marelise Niemann has spent her professional wine career on a crusade for Grenache in South Africa. There is no grape more bright, more elegant, and more properly suited for the hot, dry climate of the Western Cape, she believes. And, when a rare old Grenache vine is found, it has an uncanny ability to transmute the unique character of the world's most ancient soils. To farm these vineyards among the prehistoric Koppies of the Paardeberg is breathtaking, a feeling, she says, that never gets old.

In this week's episode with Skurnik's Ambassador to the World, Desiree Russo, Marelise makes her pitch for Grenache—for more farmers to grow it, more winemakers to make it, and more drinkers to drink it. Together, they taste her Momento Grenache Gris and Grenache Noir, plus an exceedingly rare single-varietal Tinta Barocca.

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“Everything in nature is balanced. Everything. The only thing unbalanced is the human being, and the problem is the ego. Every producer should take a step back, two steps back, maybe ten.” – Andrea Sottimano

To Andrea Sottimano, wine is not about the winemaker. It isn’t even about the grape—it’s about using both winemaker and grape to express soil. When all things are equal, from farming to lab to cellar practices, the differences that emerge indicate differences of terroir, even at a distance as little as 200 meters. The distinct Cottá, Currá, Fausoni, Pajoré and Basarin crus that he farms in the Neive and Treiso townships of Piedmont speak for themselves.

In this week’s episode, Andrea explains how he was able to elevate his family’s wines by only changing the farming, and how a culture of putting friendship over competition makes Piedmont an outlier among the great wine regions of the world. He also makes a case for making wine more affordable and accessible, and tells the story behind the cult favorite Maté, a singular expression of dry, still Brachetto from the vineyard closest to his estate.

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“It seems that every five years or so, whiskey prices take a bump, so people say, 'Oh, let’s get into Armagnac.' And they buy a number of Armagnacs, but they eventually go back to whiskey again. The question is, why do they do that, and what can Armagnac do to retain that customer?” – Charles Neal

Like Champagne, a handful of big houses dominate Cognac. Also like Champagne, it's the small, independent producers that offer more compelling expressions—and they have better stories to tell. Charles Neal has devoted his life to telling those stories.

As a young man, he was enchanted by life in his wife's hometown, in the heart of France's Armagnac region, where her family ran a small restaurant. His father-in-law introduced him to Armagnac, and his fascination with the French brandy tradition led him to discover Cognac and Calvados. To date, he has compiled hundreds of interviews with multi-generational grower-producers and published thousands of pages across several comprehensive books on the subject. To many, he is known simply as Armagnac Man.

In this week's episode, Skurnik's Spirits Portfolio Director Adam Schuman and his good friend Charles retrace their well-worn path from the Bas-Armagnac to the Grande Champagne region of Cognac, sharing anecdotes about the paysans and lessons about the spirits along the way. They discuss the history and methods that make a small cohort of French brandies among the most exquisite and—for those in the know—the most criminally undervalued distillates in the world.

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