Eric Asimov is the long-time wine critic of the New York Times. His wine column, “The Pour”, appears every Wednesday in the Food Section of the Times in-print and online. Eric recently concluded almost 9 years and 100 columns of his “Wine School”. Post-Covid times have allowed Eric to travel around the world, taste wine, and meet the winemakers for the first time in years. He has published numerous books and shares the torture of the NY Jets with me. 
 

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The Grape Nation ends the season with Champagne and Bubbly recommendations from the best in the business for the holidays and beyond. We talk to Robin Wright, Beverage Director at Ci Siamo; Yannick Benjamin and Heidi Turzyn, Proprietors of Beaupierre Wines and Spirits and Contento Restaurant; Aldo Sohm of Le Bernardin & Aldo Sohm Wine Bar; Annie Shi, Partner at King Soho and Jupiter; and Josh Greene, Editor and Publisher at Wine and Spirits Magazine.

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Josh Greene is the longtime Editor and Publisher of “Wine and Spirits” Magazine. Josh has traveled extensively to Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. He is a critic for those regions and South Africa along with writing feature stories and commentary. “Wine and Spirits” Magazine also presents their Top 100 Tasting annually. Josh and his team evaluate over 15,000 bottles every year. 
 

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Alex Schrecengost has spent almost two decades working in wine, spirits, hospitality, luxury goods, and PR. She has worked closely with such iconic brands as Romanée Conte and Biondi Santi at Wilson Daniels. The Pandemic created an opportunity for Alex to start mission driven businesses to help the workers in hospitality and the consumer alike. Alex founded Virtual with Us and Culture with Us, a black owned business. 

Katja Scharnagl hails from the Wachau Region of Austria and grew up surrounded by wine. While in Austria, she attended culinary school, received her Somm Degree, and worked in the finest restaurants. She landed in the US in 2011 and worked side by side with Aldo Sohm at Le Bernadin for almost a decade. Katja is now the Beverage Director at Koloman with Markus Glocker, one of the hottest restaurants in NYC. She is part of the Virtual with Us Beverage and Culinary Network. 

 

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On this very special episode of The Grape Nation, Sam sits down with Harold Langlais of Château Le Puy, live from Raw Wine 2022 in Queens. Sam and Harold discuss the history of Le Puy, their growing practices, and how they stand out from other natural wine makers.

Château Le Puy lies on 54 hectares in three parcels in Saint Cibard, France, on the same rock plateau as Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, a place known in ancient times as “The Plateau of the Wonders” because of the excellence of its wines.

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Isabelle Legeron is the author of “Natural Wine: An Introduction to Organic and Biodynamic Wines Made Naturally.” She is France’s first female Master of Wine. Isabelle created RAW WINE, the world’s largest community of low-intervention organic, biodynamic and natural wine producers, supported by fairs, a wine club and online shop. Isabelle has long advocated organic farming practices and proper living wines. Isabelle Legeron is a true maverick and crusader for natural wine, and her influence has touched every part of the wine world.

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Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe Eselbock are the proprietors and wine makers at Gut Oggau, their winery in Oggau in the Burgenland region of Austria. They restored a 17th century winery and now farm biodynamically. They created a unique family of wines by field blending the grapes of the region. 

Christian Tschida is a fourth-generation winemaker in the Burgenland region of Austria. Christian farms organically and biodynamically with incredible attention to detail in the vineyard and the cellar. Christian has helped pioneer the low intervention, natural wine movement in Austria and beyond. His wines are aromatic textured, with finesse, ranging from Pinot Blanc to Zwiegelt, Riesling, Syrah and more. 

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Chase Sinzer has been around…in a good way. He has worked with Union Sq Hospitality Group at Maialino, with John Fraser at Narcissa, David Chang at Momofuko Ko where he met now chef/partner Joshua Pinsky, and received 2 Michelin stars. Chase hit the west coast at Michael’s in Santa Monica, and Caesar Ramirez’s Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare and did a little retail at Crush Wine, both in NYC. Chase Sinzer and Joshua Pinsky followed on a plan and fulfilled a dream opening Claud, a European restaurant and wine bar in the East Village, to overwhelming critical acclaim this past summer. 
 

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Born in Pennsylvania, but now a British-American living in France, Aaron Ayscough made his way out to LA at the young age of 23, and even to his surprise, became a prominent Italian wine buyer with famed pizza chef, Nancy Silverton. Looking for an escape a few years later, Aaron headed to Paris working in fashion and organically, no pun intended, made his way into the thriving natural wine scene. He hung with all the Paris natural wine luminaries before moving to Beaujolais where he got a sense of the real natural wine culture, and started his wine writing and wine making. In 2015 he launched his wine blog appropriately named “Not Drinking Poison” and has also Sommeliered at some of Paris’ best wine restaurants. Aaron’s perseverance and passion for natural wine has led him to write “The World of Natural Wine: What It Is, Who Makes It and Why It Matters."

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Karen MacNeil is an award-winning wine speaker, consultant, journalist, educator and author. When I say award-winning, I’m talking an Emmy and a James Beard Award among others. She has her own line of stemware and publishes her weekly newsletter and website, Winespeed. Karen just released the fully revised and updated 3rd Edition of “The Wine Bible,” selling upwards of a million copies; it is one of the best-selling wine books ever. 

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