"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 cooperatives that pumped out massive amounts of inexpensive bulk wine and diluted any hint of terroir. It wasn’t until the turn of the millennium that a fresh generation took notice of the gems right under their noses: forgotten old-vine vineyards and, thanks to hundreds of millions of years of tectonic activity, the oldest soils of anywhere on the planet. Chris and Andrea Mullineux, alongside pioneers like Adi Badenhorst and Eben Sadie, helped redefine the region with stunning Chenin Blancs and Syrahs, proving that Swartland wines could indeed deliver a distinct sense of place.

Now their movement has grown beyond the Swartland to the broader Western Cape. Independent winemakers from Stellenbosch to Hemel-en-Aarde are dialing in their farming to express a uniquely South African terroir, one that in Mullineux’s case “tastes like sunshine.” In this episode, Chris Mullineux joins Desiree Russo for a flight of wines from three of his projects: Kloof Street, Mullineux, and Leeu Passant. They discuss regenerative farming, geek out on soil, and survey the unexpected varieties that may come to define the next chapter of South African wine.

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"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 philosophy. When he wanted to order wine at restaurants with more confidence, he became a certified sommelier. When he was looking for the perfect tequila, he used his degree in mechanical engineering to pave a road to the top of a mountain, then built the world’s highest elevation tequila distillery, Alto Canto.

Of all he has accomplished, Alto Canto is Daday’s crown jewel. He built it with a lasting legacy in mind—of quality tequila, yes, but also as a promise to nature. The distillery is entangled with native flora whose wild yeasts spontaneously ferment only organic, mature agaves. Coyotes and armadillos roam across the forested Sierra del Tigre range. Bees swarm, drawn to the vinaza, or liquid byproduct from distillation, which gets repurposed as fertilizer for local avocado farmers.

In this episode with Justin Lane Briggs, Daday shares his thoughts on what it takes to craft the highest quality distillate with as little intervention as possible, and where additive-free tequilas like Alto Canto fit in the flashy league of premium craft Mexican spirits.

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“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.

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