Drink Naked

Welcome to the eleventh episode of Drink Naked. You’re about to meet one of the most passionate winemakers in the business. Ash Horner is a multi award-winning, certified Organic winemaker who proudly wears his heart on his sleeve. His journey so far reads like a Hunter Valley love story - and it is! In this episode you’ll hear how Ash gave up one of the best jobs at one of the most powerful Hunter wineries to follow his girlfriend Lauren while she studied in a far away town, how twenty years later they’re married with kids and he still does everything for, and with, Lauren by his side and how recently thanks to Naked funding and Angel support they finally got the keys to their very own winery!

Welcome to the tenth episode of Drink Naked.   You’re about to meet the Master of Margaret River. Brian Fletcher is an absolute legend. With over 40 years of experience in both Old and New World regions and a cabinet full with over 15 Trophies and 100 Gold Medals it’s no exaggeration to say this gentleman has helped steer the success of this internationally renowned region.   In this episode you’ll hear how ‘Fletch’ went from studying metallurgy at University to eventually discovering his winemaking calling, of how his family guided him in the right direction, and how his enduring love affair with Italy informs his life today and his dreams for the future.

Welcome to the ninth episode of ‘Drink Naked’. You’re about to meet one of the finest practitioners of organic winemaking anywhere in Australia. Ben Gould, hailing from Margaret River in Western Australia, is ‘the man’ when it comes to organic, biodynamic and sustainable viticulture and winemaking. A passionate advocate of ‘leaving the world a better place than when you arrived’, Ben has over 20 vintages under his belt and was named in Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine under the heading 'best of the best' for 2011. In this episode you’ll hear how this dynamo went from managing a bar at just age 17 to meeting the love of his life and tramping around Europe in a clapped out old van to cobbling together a winery with whatever gear he could beg and borrow to pushing the boundaries on nurturing new vines and techniques to ultimately making truly great wine totally honest to where they were grown and made.

Welcome to the eighth episode of ‘Drink Naked’. You’re about to meet a team whose catchcry could well be “All for one and one for all!” Gus & Swan Altschwager and Mark & Emma Kenneally - are collaboratively four passionate individuals that make up a truly remarkable winemaking fraternity. A true collaboration that taps into a vast wealth of winemaking experience in both New Zealand and Australia. In this episode you’ll hear how this fantastic foursome all the way from Marlborough in New Zealand via Mt Gambier on the Limestone Coast of South Australia and McLaren Vale in South Australia have traversed vast distances, and countries, to source only the highest quality, sustainably grown fruit, in their quest to craft the finest regionally specific wines possible and to be able to leave corporate winemaking far behind. 4 Friends, 3 Regions, 2 Countries and 1 Courageous Dream being lived to the fullest...

Welcome to the third episode of 'Drink Naked'! With close to 1000 Show medals to his name Sam Plunkett is one of the most awarded winemakers in Australia. Multiple Best Wine of Show Trophies include winning the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge in 2010 with the 2008 release of Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch. In this episode you’ll hear how before, during and after that time proved to be the most uplifting but almost the most challenging of times for Sam and his family and led one writer to opine “...Sam Plunkett and partner Bron Dunwoodie have changed shells as often as a lively hermit crab

Welcome to the seventh episode of ‘Drink Naked’.   You’re about to meet a winemaker who embodies the mantra “walking to the beat of their own drum”. Leighton Joy is a recent recipient of the 2019 Top 50 Young Gun of Wine award. He’s won multiple medals at national wine shows including the Western Victoria Wine Challenge trophy for Best Shiraz and Best Wine.   In this episode you’ll hear how his winemaking passion has always been to handcraft wines the way that he wants to - and not how he’s told to. How he loves to create wines filled with honesty, integrity and a huge dash of adventure, and how he looks at his life now as being either ‘Before Naked’ or ‘After Naked’.     In Leighton Joy’s world, there is hope, morale is high and the potential for groundbreaking exploration is exciting, career-defining and awe inspiring!

As a recent recipient of a 2019 Top 50 Young Gun of Wine award, with wines rated as high as 96 points by the legendary James Halliday and his label rated 5-Star status and with multiple Gold and Trophy medals at national wine shows under his belt, Rob Paulazzo is a dynamic winemaker in a big hurry. In this episode you’ll hear how his proudest day was when he announced that he’d quit his day job to work fulltime on his very own R.Paulazzo Wines label, how his whole life has been shaped by ‘wine’, and how his wines are made from the heart using a balance of knowledge and instinct totally eschewing the backroom bean counters!

Welcome to the fifth episode of 'Drink Naked'! With over 9 Trophies and a further 23 Gold Medals to their names, Damien Stevens and Jodie Belleville from burgeoning label Fuzzy & May are helping shape the future of the iconic Hunter Valley wine region. In this episode you’ll hear how this dynamic duo’s first ever Semillon scooped the pool at the Hunter Valley Wine Show and set the bar high for their continued success, how the occasional argument is good for the creative process and why they are inspired to seek out the finest fruit possible from Australia’s oldest wine producing region.

Welcome to the fourth episode of 'Drink Naked'! Widely recognised as the founding father of Pinot Gris/Grigio in Australia, Kevin McCarthy is and always has been a rebel - a deadset heretic. In this episode you’ll hear how this legendary Victorian winemaker thumbed his nose at the naysayers, backed his own instincts and talents and changed the Australian wine landscape - forever!

Welcome to the second episode of 'Drink Naked'! In our second episode, all the way from the Yarra Valley in Victoria, we welcome the pioneering power couple of Adrian & Rebecca Santolin. We talk about how they met, how their lives have changed in the last 7 years and how the future looks super exciting!

Welcome to the first episode of 'Drink Naked'! In our first episode we talk with rock star Jen Pfeiffer about how she got her start in wine making, what drives and motivates her, and what exciting plans she has for the future!