Skurnik Unfiltered Podcast By Skurnik Wines & Spirits cover art

Skurnik Unfiltered

Skurnik Unfiltered

By: Skurnik Wines & Spirits
Listen for free

No reservations required—listening to these conversations feels like you've been invited to pull up a chair and share a glass with some of the most remarkable dinner guests, giving you a level of access that was previously gatekept for those in the know.


Skurnik Unfiltered is a weekly podcast that curates deep conversations with some of the finest winemakers, distillers, and industry leaders about the world of wines, spirits and hospitality. The show is hosted by Harmon Skurnik of Skurnik Wines & Spirits, a leading importer and distributor of the finest terroir-driven beverages crafted at a human scale.


Episodes are guest-hosted by sommeliers and experts in the subfields of wine, spirits, sake, and specialty beverages.


Skurnik Unfiltered is recorded at Skurnik Wines & Spirits headquarters in the Flatiron District of New York City.

© 2026 Skurnik Unfiltered
Art Food & Wine Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Bernhard Ott and Hans Reisetbauer
    Apr 6 2026

    “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 than one could alone. Warhol and Basquiat. Lewis and Tolkien. Gauguin and van Gogh. Today in the world of craft wine and spirits, that pair is winemaker Bernhard Ott and distiller Hans Reisetbauer.

    Born into farming families in Lower and Upper Austria respectively, they followed a common thread of honest farming, pure fruit, and quality beverages that eventually brought them together. Like looking in a mirror, they immediately bonded over their shared interests and identical values. Now after 25 years of friendship, their collaborative approach to farming, fermentation, and life has produced the most elite wine and spirits in Austria.

    In this episode, they share their philosophies on biodynamic farming, their obsessive pursuit of pure fruit, and why doing things the right way doesn’t have to mean doing it the hard way when you always have a friend to lean on.


    Automatically generated transcripts often contain mistakes. Find a corrected version here.

    Skurnik Wines & Spirits

    Follow us on Instagram

    Show more Show less
    26 mins
  • Sergio Vivanco
    Mar 30 2026

    "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 Jalisco highland plateau, though they didn't establish their own destilería until 1994. Registered as NOM 1414, they soon launched their own family label, Viva México Tequila. The distillery built an enviable reputation, and the family took on contracts for brands seeking purity, quality, and transparency.

    Now co-owner and one of four master distillers, Sergio Vivanco has become one of the most respected figures in the tequila industry. In this episode, tequila educator and advocate Marissa Paragano sits down with Sergio to taste five expressions from Viva México and Plantador, discussing the production details that make NOM 1414 tequilas distinct, Sergio's five-step tasting method, and how a culture of multi-generational craftsmanship delivers excellent results.


    Automatically generated transcripts often make mistakes. Find a corrected version here.

    Skurnik Wines & Spirits

    Follow us on Instagram

    Show more Show less
    37 mins
  • Jasmine Hirsch
    Mar 24 2026

    “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 decades for David Hirsch to realize after planting his first vines in 1980 that he's not farming grapes—he's farming soil. This epiphany came after a long evolutionary arc in an exceptionally rugged and sparsely populated region in the West Sonoma Coast. What used to be a redwood forest cleared for cultivation by early pioneers became a conventional vineyard and later a biodynamic farm under his stewardship.

    In this week's episode, Jasmine Hirsch, the second generation farmer of Hirsch Vineyards and first-generation winemaker, joins Jamie Schwartz for a discussion over a glass of Hirsch Vineyards 'Bohan-Dillon' Pinot Noir. The longtime friends discuss her family's farming philosophy rooted in spirituality, the physical and mental impact of the region's dramatic terroir, and how she embraces the ephemeral nature of wine through the Japanese principle of mono no aware.


    Automatically generated transcripts often make mistakes. Find a corrected version here.

    Skurnik Wines & Spirits

    Follow us on Instagram

    Show more Show less
    42 mins
No reviews yet