ETHOS

Nati Gordillo

Piscología master distiller and blender, Nati Gordillo’s desire to connect with nature brought her to Azpitia where she happened upon a plot of land for sale. At first glance, the sandy hills of Azpitia seemed inhospitable to plant life. However, she and her husband worked tirelessly to convert the previously uncultivated land into a productive vineyard of pisco grapes.

Three years later, she rented a space at the communal distillery in the village to distill her first batch of pisco. Nati patiently supervised as the clear brandy collected in the well, drip by drip, for 33 hours. The experience gave her the confidence and determination to learn more. After more years of practice and further study, Nati was ready to buy her first 300-liter copper pot still, which she continues to use at her distillery today.

Caring for her vineyards and distilling pisco are ways of life in Azpitia, a place that has always been a spiritual retreat and a refuge to spend time with family and nature. Nati strives to craft exceptional pisco and loves the challenges that distilling brings, and working with the conditions of Azpitia to create the absolute best product possible. Most people don’t realize what goes into a bottle of pisco. For Nati, what counts most is the dedication, the stewardship of her land, and care for one another. 

Meg McFarland

When Piscología founder Meg McFarland had her first sip of pisco in Lima in 2003, she was dazzled by the spirit’s flavor and complexity. She then became immersed in the craft and history of the spirit.

Her educational journey led to an unyielding desire to spread knowledge of the spirit beyond the borders of Peru.  Realizing the best form of education was by sharing the pisco that she had the privilege to sip at the bodegas, she conjured up the “Logia” ethos and philosophy. Seven years after her first sip of pisco and after a series of serendipitous events, Meg proudly imported the first batch of Piscología to the USA.

An educator by trade, Meg also created the Pisco Certificate Course, a comprehensive e-Learning for spirit lovers, professionals in the service industry, sommeliers and beyond. The e-learning platform was recognized as a “Top Trend” by recognized as a “cocktail trend to watch in 2021” by the Spirits Business.

Piscología and the Certificate Course were built simultaneously with Apu Winery, one of the highest wineries in the world, which Meg founded with her husband, Fernando, in the Andes of Peru.

Partnering with the finest in the industry, Meg and her team have transformed Piscología into what it is today: a celebration of Peru’s diverse terroir, a preservation of history and traditional techniques, a platform for education, and means to support small-scale producers.

Kami Kenna

Kami is an award-winning bartender from Portland, Oregon. In 2014, she won a bartending competition in Portland that took her to Peru. In a leap of faith, she sold everything she owned and decided to stay a while.

In Peru, she met her partners and soon became the Sales and Marketing Manager for Piscología. Additionally, she oversees new product development, brand design and strategy, import and export logistics, education, and cocktail design. 

Kami was also the assistant distiller at an investigative micro-distillery in the Peruvian Andes where she helped to develop its flagship products. Kami has consulted for breweries, bars, and restaurants throughout Latin America.

Experience Agave, the category-establishing agave spirits tour company, brought Kami to Mexico in 2016 where she is now the Senior Tour Coordinator leading tours in Jalisco and Oaxaca.

In 2022, she acquired her master’s degree in Food Studies from New York University where her work focused on the traditional beverages of Latin America with a sociological and design lens and her thesis work centered on the pisco industry in Peru.

Cynthia Vogel

Cynthia was born and raised in the Pacific Northwestern United States, the daughter of a malting chemist–and later executive and past president of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. Being a Vogel meant being proud of the heritage of German beer-making. Her Dad’s international travels in the industry gave her a love of food mapping, cuisine history and language, and she went on to major in Spanish at The Evergreen State College. Currently, she studies and practices Western Herbalism and clinical social work, and she’s excited to form part of a team that is establishing visibility for women in the spirits industry.