Uncorking What's Next

Jeff Zacharia
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Semiweekly

Jeff Zacharia spent more than 40 years at Zachys, helping to build the company into a worldwide leader in fine wine, across both auctions and retail. In Uncorking What's Next, Jeff sits down with the winemakers, scientists, collectors, and visionaries shaping the future of wine — the people who live it, love it, and refuse to stop pushing it forward.

  1. 4d ago

    The Truth About Wine Corks: Cork taint, Screwcaps, and sustainability

    Carlos de Jesus of Amorim Cork joins Jeff Zacharia to explore how the cork industry fought its way back from the crisis of TCA, cork taint, and why the humble cork may matter more to wine's future than most of us realize. For centuries, natural cork was virtually synonymous with fine wine. Then came TCA. As cork taint damaged bottles and consumer confidence, the cork industry faced an existential challenge: could a natural product produced by the billions ever achieve the extraordinary consistency demanded by modern wineries? Carlos de Jesus has spent more than 20 years at Amorim, the world's largest producer of natural cork, at the center of that transformation. In this conversation, he explains how Amorim combined preventative measures, new production methods and increasingly sophisticated testing to address contaminants at concentrations measured in parts per trillion. Then the conversation moves from the winery to Portugal's cork forests. Carlos explains why harvesting cork doesn't require cutting down the tree, how cork production supports a much larger environmental and economic ecosystem, and why sustainability has become central to the case for natural cork. In this episode: What TCA is and why humans can detect incredibly small amountsHow Amorim approached the cork-taint crisisQuality control measured in parts per trillionHow natural cork has changed over the past two decadesCork vs. screw capsThe relationship between closures and wine agingWhy Portugal's cork forests are environmentally significantCork recycling and second-life applicationsWhy an ancient product continues to evolve through modern science Carlos also takes us into the cork forest itself, where a harvest still uses techniques with roots stretching back thousands of years. This is an episode about far more than pulling a cork. It's about trust—and how an industry nearly lost it, then set out to earn it back. 00:00 Cold open and introduction 00:40 Carlos's background — from political science to Amorim 02:56 Why cork felt like something bigger than a job 05:35 What TCA is and what it does to wine 07:33 How Amorim combined prevention and cure to defeat cork taint 11:16 The dark years — when the market couldn't yet see the progress 13:26 The cork forest: 40 million years of native species 15:24 The 43-year timeline from planting to quality cork 18:17 Why even everyday wines benefit from cork 21:52 Cork's second life: flooring, aerospace, and the NYC recycling project 25:02 Premox and what the research actually shows about cork's role 28:48 The closure wars: where things stand in 20 years 31:33 The cultural relevance of the cork pop — and what's at stake 34:34 Early wine memory: a vertical of Château Latour 36:25 Breakout moment: Jancis Robinson's article on his birthday 38:20 Advice for anyone who feels they don't belong in wine Follow Jeff on Instagram @uncorkingwhatsnext Subscribe to the newsletter at uncorkingwhatsnext.com Contact: jzfinewine@gmail.com

  2. Sep 2

    Ornellaia: Uncorking the Wine That Changed Italy

    In 1981, someone had the nerve to plant Cabernet and Merlot on the Tuscan coast in a place no one thought could grow great wine. Forty years later, Ornellaia is one of the most celebrated estates on the planet. Lamberto Frescobaldi joins Jeff Zacharia to tell the whole story and to explain why the best may still be ahead. About Lamberto Frescobaldi Lamberto Frescobaldi is the head of the Frescobaldi family wine estates, one of Italy's most historic wine dynasties with roots in Tuscany dating to the 14th century. Under his leadership, Frescobaldi acquired and built Ornellaia into a global benchmark, alongside celebrated estates including Masseto, CastelGiocondo, and Nipozzano. In this conversation — How Bolgheri went from an afterthought to one of Italy's great wine regions — The 1998 Wine Spectator Top 100 moment Lamberto calls "a rocket" for Ornellaia — What Ornellaia actually feels like; warm, polished, Mediterranean in spirit, never asking you to dress up for it — Why Lamberto refuses the "Super Tuscan" label, and why he's grateful Americans invented it — Walking a vineyard and seeing not a cluster of grapes but a bottle with a label already on it — The new generation of wine drinkers, more open, more curious, less beholden to old hierarchies — Why people will drink less wine in the years ahead, and why that is not a bad thing — The line Lamberto says he would put on the back of every bottle: ‘forbidden to drink alone’ Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Growing up Frescobaldi — countryside, cellars, and no pressure 05:45 An early sip through a straw and the feeling of being grown up 08:30 It all starts in the vineyard — a connection to Graeme MacDonald 11:27 How Ornellaia began: Bolgheri, Cabernet, and a radical vision 14:25 The 1985 first vintage and the road to recognition 15:24 The 1998 Wine Spectator Top 100 — the moment everything changed 16:40 How to describe Ornellaia: warmth, balance, and a wink 19:45 Super Tuscan — a label Lamberto never uses but is grateful for 25:26 How the luxury wine consumer is changing 28:26 The future of wine — opportunity, tension, and staying hungry 31:05 Bolgheri's continued potential and the challenge for new producers 34:34 The long view — investment horizons and generational thinking 35:10 Stewardship: echoes of Lafleur and Laura Catena 36:41 Authenticity: seeing a bottle hanging in the vineyard 39:03 Place matters more than ever — every bottle is a trip 40:52 Wine is not something you drink alone 42:01 Early wine memory: a straw, a bottle, and a room full of oil-sealed wine 44:06 Breakout moment: the best has yet to come 45:34 Advice for anyone who feels they don't belong in wine Related episodes Ep. 001 — Omri Ram, Château Lafleur Ep. 004 — Graeme & Alex MacDonald, MacDonald Vineyards Ep. 006 — Dr. Laura Catena, Bodega Catena Zapata Find Uncorking What's Next Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Newsletter: uncorkingwhatsnext.com Instagram: @uncorkingwhatsnext Sponsors Wine Market Journal — use code UNCORKED at winetrade.app The Durand Corkscrew — @thedurandcorkscrew La Tête d'Or

  3. Aug 19

    The Sleeper Second Growth Wakes Up: The Revival of Château Gruaud-Larose

    For nearly 300 years, Château Gruaud-Larose has occupied one of the great terroirs of Saint-Julien: nearly 200 acres in an extraordinary single, unbroken vineyard. And yet, for a good part of its modern history, I thought of Gruaud-Larose as something of a sleeper Second Growth, a château whose wines didn't always fully reflect the potential of its remarkable terroir. I don't believe that anymore. My guest, Nicolas Sinoquet, CEO of Château Gruaud-Larose, has spent more than a decade helping lead the estate's resurgence. His route there was unusual: raised in Normandy outside the wine business, he was preparing to build an Armagnac business when a conversation with Jean Merlaut, Gruaud-Larose's owner and his wife's uncle, unexpectedly changed his path. Nicolas says it took him about three seconds to accept an offer from Jean.. What followed was not a reinvention of Gruaud-Larose so much as a long-term effort to unlock what was already there. We talk about why Nicolas believes the vineyard must always come first, the decades required to transform a great vineyard, the estate's move to organic farming, and why the 2025 vintage may represent the wine he has been trying to make since arriving. But our conversation goes well beyond winemaking. Nicolas has some refreshingly unconventional views about Bordeaux: why château prices must remain reasonable, why the en primeur system may need to evolve, why estates may increasingly need to age wines themselves, and why Bordeaux must become less intimidating if it wants to attract the next generation of wine drinkers. And then there is stewardship. A bottle of 1989 Gruaud-Larose taught Nicolas something fundamental: he may work at the château for 30 years, but the wines can live far longer than any one person's tenure. His responsibility isn't to leave his mark. It's to care for something that existed long before him and will continue long after him. It's a conversation about patience, change, and how you move a nearly 300-year-old château forward without losing what made it special in the first place.

  4. Aug 5

    The Accidental Wine Communicator: Marc Bouffard and Englishman's Claret

    Marc Bouffard is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He is also, by any measure, one of the most respected independent voices in fine wine — built not from a role in the trade, not from a formal credential, but from pure passion, a scientist's rigor, and an Instagram account called @englishmans_claret. In this episode, Marc and Jeff sit down to talk about how all of it happened: the 1966 Léoville Barton that opened a door to the Barton-Sartorius family; the vertical of Ducru-Beaucaillou going back to 1929 that began a lasting friendship with Bruno Borie; and why a Harvard neurologist with friends "in real life" eventually said yes to Instagram — and wrote a 368-page book. That book is Saint-Julien: Vineyards, Cellars, People, and Place (Académie du Vin Library), the first volume in a planned series covering all of Bordeaux's major appellations. It covers all eleven classified growths of Saint-Julien, with tasting notes stretching back to 1922, and a deliberate choice to leave out numerical scores — a decision Marc says made his writing significantly better. In this episode: How Marc built trust and access inside the châteaux without any formal role in the wine tradeThe "Englishman's Claret" origin story — and the Oxford tasting that first made him think, how can two wines from the same place be so different?Why Saint-Julien is the archetypal Bordeaux, and why its lack of a first growth may actually be a strengthWhat "the long tour" means as a philosophy — and why asking why matters more than knowing whatThe case for Bordeaux's extraordinary value right now, and where the perception problem still livesEn primeur: who it works for, who it doesn't, and what he sees changingWhy he removed scores from the book — and why his tasting notes immediately improved when he didOld bottles and what they tell you that recent vintages can't: a scientist's approach to terroirThe "looking back / looking forward" structure that makes the book a document meant to ageSaint-Estèphe and Pauillac: the next volumes already underway Promo: Use code UNCORKING at checkout for 15% off Saint-Julien at the Académie du Vin Library. https://academieduvinlibrary.com/products/saint-julien-marc-bouffard

  5. Jul 22

    Why Domaine Huet Defines Great Chenin Blanc | Sarah Hwang

    For nearly a century, Domaine Huet has been one of the defining estates of the Loire Valley and one of the world's greatest producers of Chenin Blanc. But in 2003, everything changed. When the Huet family sold the estate, many in the wine world questioned what would happen next. Could new owners preserve one of France's most revered domaines? Would its identity survive? Would the philosophy that had made Huet legendary be lost? In this episode of Uncorking What's Next, Jeff Zacharia sits down with Sarah Hwang, whose family stepped into that challenge more than twenty years ago. Sarah shares the remarkable story of taking over an estate that meant far more than vineyards and buildings. Domaine Huet was—and remains—a cornerstone of the Vouvray community, shaped by the vision of Victor and Gaston Huet and decades of pioneering work, including becoming one of France's earliest biodynamic estates. Jeff and Sarah discuss how her family approached that responsibility with humility, choosing stewardship over reinvention. They explore why Chenin Blanc may be one of the world's most misunderstood grapes, how Sec, Demi-Sec, and Moelleux express entirely different personalities, and why Huet's wines continue to age for decades with extraordinary grace. Along the way, Sarah reflects on growing up in a family of scientists, how stories of South Africa first sparked her imagination about wine, and why wine is ultimately about curiosity, generosity, and human connection. In this episodeThe challenging transition of Domaine Huet to new ownershipEarning the trust of the Vouvray communityWhat stewardship really means at a historic wine estateWhy Chenin Blanc deserves far more attentionBiodynamic farming decades before it became fashionableThe remarkable history of Domaine HuetWhy great wine is ultimately about people, places, and memories This is a conversation about legacy—not simply preserving the past, but earning the right to shape the future.

  6. Jul 8

    Building the Plane While Flying It: Scott Becker and the Reinvention of Realm

    Scott Becker grew up on the edge of dairy farm country in Wisconsin, played football at the Air Force Academy, served in counterintelligence — including deployments overseas after 9/11 — and talked his way into Harvard Business School. When career services suggested Goldman Sachs, he said no. He was going to Napa Valley to make wine. What he walked into at Realm Cellars in 2012 was a mess. Bad credit, borrowed facilities, a Brett-affected vintage he ultimately dumped down the drain — bottle by bottle — rather than let it define the brand. A quarter of his production, gone. Realm 2.0 was built on that decision. In this conversation, Jeff and Scott cover the full arc: growing up in the Midwest, military service and the perspective it gave him, an unforgettable lunch with Bill Harlan and Napa's founding generation, the painful early years at Realm, the transformation from grape buyer to landowner, and one of the most consequential decisions in recent Napa history — choosing not to make a single bottle in 2020 because of smoke taint. They also dig into what it means to build something genuinely new in Napa today: Realm's unique identity across multiple vineyards and sites, the post-cult era and what comes next, premature oxidation in Burgundy, why the greatest competitor to fine wine is non-consumption, and whether Coombsville could be the Oakville story of the next generation. This episode includes short explainers on Brettanomyces and premature oxidation for listeners who want to go deeper. Sponsors: Wine Market Journal — promo code UNCORKED La Tête d'Or The Durand Corkscrew Connect: Instagram: @uncorkingwhatsnext Email: jzfinewine@gmail.com

  7. Jun 24

    From the Bronx to Burgundy: Uncorking the Wolf of Wine

    Jermaine Stone — known to many as the Wolf of Wine — didn't grow up around fine wine. He grew up in the Bronx, the first in his family born in the United States, with a dad who was a welder and a dream of making it as a rapper. The only wine in his house was Manischewitz, poured into his mom's black cake at the holidays. What happened next is one of the great origin stories in the wine world. Jermaine took a shipping clerk job at Zachys in 2004 — not because he cared about wine, but because it had a desk and room to grow. Within a few years he was running logistics, then bid clerking at auction, and in 2012 he became the first Black wine auctioneer in the United States. A moment some called a Jackie Robinson moment — though Jermaine, characteristically, says he was just nervous about the pronunciation. In this episode, Jeff and Jermaine cover the full arc: the Peninsula Hotel realization that ended his rap career, the Don Zachys kitchen conversation that kept him from leaving, the 1998 Chevalier-Montrachet that opened his ears to complexity, and how a podcast he started just to stay relevant turned into something neither of them saw coming — 110 episodes, a James Beard nomination, an Emmy nomination, guest lectures at Cornell, and the Wine & Hip Hop experience, which has now brought 150 people to Clos Vougeot and is expanding to LA, Burgundy, Champagne, and Brooklyn. They also get into Tasting Notes from the Streets — jerk chicken with Lambrusco, champagne with chicken nuggets — and what Jermaine believes the wine world has to do better: embrace the entry points, stop gatekeeping, and ask yourself one question when you feel like you don't belong: Who told you that? Oh — and the nickname? Jeff gave it to him. In Hong Kong. Outside a club. It's a great story. In this episode: Growing up in the Bronx and landing at Zachys by accidentLeaving rap behind at the Peninsula Hotel in LABecoming the first Black wine auctioneer in the USThe 1998 Chevalier-Montrachet that changed everythingBuilding the Wine & Hip Hop podcast to 110 episodesWine & Hip Hop — from a two-day harvest party at Clos Vougeot to a global seriesTasting Notes from the Streets: why jerk chicken and Lambrusco make perfect senseWine as a social equalizer — and why the industry needs more entry pointsEarly wine memory, breakout moment, and advice for anyone who feels they don't belong Connect with Jermaine Stone: Wine & Hip Hop Podcast | Tasting Notes from the Streets | Wine Bars, Volume One https://wineandhiphop.com/ Sponsors: 🍽️ La Tete D'Or — Chef Daniel Boulud's French American steakhouse, Manhattan Flatiron District 📊 https://www.latetedorbydaniel.com Wine Market Journal — Real auction transaction data for fine wine buyers and collectors. Use code UNCORKING for 10% off your first annual subscription: wmarketjournal.com 🍾https://www.winemarketjournal.com/ The Durand Corkscrew — Share your story of falling in love with wine for a chance to win one. https://thedurand.com/ Follow along: 📸 Instagram: @uncorkingwhatsnext 📧 instagram.com/uncorkingwhatsnext Email: jzfinewine@gmail.com

  8. Jun 10

    Six Generations Deep: Laura Catena and the Soul of Argentine Wine

    What does it take to change how the world thinks about an entire wine country? In this episode of Uncorking What's Next, Jeff Zacharia sits down with Laura Catena—physician, researcher, sixth-generation vintner, and Managing Director of Catena Zapata. Laura shares the story of her family's winemaking legacy, her father's vision for Argentine wine, and the decades-long effort to prove that Argentina could produce wines capable of standing alongside the world's finest estates. From blind tastings in her Harvard dorm room to pioneering high-altitude viticulture in Mendoza's Adrianna Vineyard, Laura explains how science, persistence, and a belief in terroir helped transform Argentina's place in the fine wine world. The conversation explores Malbec, Chardonnay, old vines, wine research, and why wine remains one of our strongest connections to nature, culture, and family. Sponsors: 🍽️ La Tete D'Or — Chef Daniel Boulud's French American steakhouse, Manhattan Flatiron District 📊 https://www.latetedorbydaniel.com Wine Market Journal — Real auction transaction data for fine wine buyers and collectors. Use code UNCORKING for 10% off your first annual subscription: wmarketjournal.com 🍾https://www.winemarketjournal.com/ The Durand Corkscrew — Share your story of falling in love with wine for a chance to win one. https://thedurand.com/ Follow along: 📸 Instagram: @uncorkingwhatsnext 📧 instagram.com/uncorkingwhatsnext Email: jzfinewine@gmail.com

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About

Jeff Zacharia spent more than 40 years at Zachys, helping to build the company into a worldwide leader in fine wine, across both auctions and retail. In Uncorking What's Next, Jeff sits down with the winemakers, scientists, collectors, and visionaries shaping the future of wine — the people who live it, love it, and refuse to stop pushing it forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Jeff Zacharia
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Jeff Zacharia
  • Show Website
    Uncorking What's Next

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