In the Drink

Justin is the Wine Director and a partner at The Four Horsemen, a restaurant and wine bar in Williamsburg. The Four Horsemen is known for serving some of the most interesting and hard to find natural wines in the city, and was also named one of the best restaurants in Williamsburg by New York Magazine. Justin began his career by playing and recording music for 20 years before moving into wine. Previously, he was the wine buyer for Uva wines for 8 years, transforming it from a small wine shop to an international destination for natural wines.

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This week on In the Drink, host Joe Campanale is joined in the studio by Jules Dressner of Louis/Dressner Selections, a portfolio of over 100 vignerons hailing from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia and Chile. Louis/Dressner Selections is a partnership between Denyse Louis, a native Burgundian, Joe Dressner, and Kevin McKenna. Collectively, they spend nearly nine months a year in Europe working with their growers and selecting wines for importation to America.

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Born into a family of scientists and wine collectors, Cedric Nicaise spent the first five years of his life in Belgium, before moving to America with his family, though he would continue to spend a portion of each year traveling in Europe while growing up, taking in the culture, and the food. He attended Ithaca College and graduated with a degree in history. After graduation Cedric spent a number of years working at various restaurants throughout the upstate New York region. Eventually succumbing to his passion for restaurants he moved to Manhattan where he began working at Aureole. In honing his dining room experience there he took a great interest in the world of wine, ultimately joining Eleven Madison Park's wine team as a Sommelier in 2012. Since then he's been a key contributor to the continued evolution of the wine program and education of the staff, and was promoted to Wine Director in the spring of 2015.

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This week on In the Drink, host Joe Campanale is joined in the studio by Michael Skurnik.

In 1977, after graduating from UMass Amherst, Michael took a waiter’s job at Windows on the World while he waited to land a “real job.” He progressed quickly to sommelier and had the opportunity to taste thousands of wines from their extensive cellars.

Michael left Windows in 1980 to work on the distribution side of the business. In 1987, he founded Michael Skurnik Wines (now just simply Skurnik Wines) in order to bring in a few boutique wineries from California and the rest is history. The business grew rapidly and now Skurnik Wines represents a host of wineries from California, Oregon, Washington, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and even New Mexico and Israel!

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A lover of wine since he began his restaurant career during college, Caleb Ganzer moved to Paris during his senior year, where he worked in a Champagne bar and grew his love of wine into a full-fledged passion.

After graduation, Caleb quickly made the decision to follow his heart and pursue a career in the wine world. Since then, he’s held positions as a sommelier at a number of acclaimed restaurants including several of Daniel Boulud’s spots, including Restaurant DANIEL, DBGB, and db Bistro Moderne in Miami & New York. Ganzer also spent two years as a sommelier at Eleven Madison Park.

Currently, Ganzer is at the helm of Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, a SoHo wine bar with Parisian roots. Compagnie has been named Best Wine Bar in NYC by Village Voice in 2015, and Ganzer was named a Sommelier of the Year 2017 by Food & Wine magazine.

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John Paterson IV is the wine director of Frankies Spuntino Restaurant Group. In his role as wine director since February 2015, Paterson has transformed the company’s wine programs, offering honest & approachable wines, while maintaining unique wine lists to fit each restaurant. We will talk about Italian wines, the restaurant industry and wine in Manhattan vs. Brooklyn.

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On this week's episode of In The Drink, host Joe Campanale is joined by sommelier Rachael Lowe, wine director of Spiaggia Restaurant in Chicago. Rachel has crafted wine programs at some of the most distinguished dining establishments in the United States. She holds an advanced sommelier degree from the Court of Master Sommeliers, which awarded her the Rudd Scholarship for top scores on the advanced exam. Lowe won the top prize at the Ruinart Chardonnay competition hosted by Ruinart and the Guild of Sommeliers in 2010, and the Jean Banchet award for Top Sommelier in Chicago. In that same year, Star Chefs named her Rising Star Sommelier. Food & Wine Magazine named Rachael one of the top Sommeliers of 2016.

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Host Joe Campanale sits down with sommelier Yannick Benjamin, head sommelier at the University Club, lead lecturer for Saturday seminars at Le Du’s Wines in the West Village and star of Esquire's “Uncorked”, a documentary series about sommeliers. In 2003, a car accident left Benjamin paralyzed below the waist. He quickly adapted, outfitting his wheelchair with a table that allows him to continue to perform the tasks required of his profession. Beyond the world of wine, Benjamin works tirelessly on behalf of his nonprofit organization, Wheeling Forward, which he started with Alex Elegudin in 2012. Their mission is to provide guidance and resources to disabled individuals, focusing on education, employment, wellness, community integration, housing acquisition, and personal fulfillment. A para-athlete, Benjamin competes in marathons to raise money for his advocacy group.

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For twenty years, Gunter Rochelt distilled brandy made from the finest fruit and shared it with his closest friends. By founding the Rochelt Brandy Distillery in 1989, Gunter quickly discovered an expanded circle of good friends. Back then the product line included seven varieties of brandy made from various fruit. Today, we produce 21 varieties and the next generation runs this still family-owned business.

Alexander Rainer, Gunter’s son in law, has been active in the family business since 2003 and learned the art of distillation first hand under Gunter’s mentorship. Alexander now runs the family business with the support of the three Rochelt daughters: Julia, Annia and Teresa.

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This week on In the Drink, host Joe Campanale is joined by Cathy Corison, owner and winemaker of Corison Winery.

The first woman Winemaker-Proprietor in the Napa Valley,produces three Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, hand-crafted without compromise. Her wines are powerful and elegant at the same time, have a sense of place, and are structured to grace the table and enjoy a long, distinguished life. She sources some of the finest vineyards in the Napa Valley, all located on classic benchland between Rutherford and St. Helena, where deep, stony alluvial soils provide the ideal growing conditions for the Cabernet vine. These vines regularly produce some of the most concentrated and superbly ripened fruit anywhere. Kronos Vineyard, one of the estate vineyards, surrounds the winery on all four sides. In 2016 Cathy harvested her 30th vintage of Corison!

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