Unreserved Wine Talk

How can Romania have one of Europe's largest vineyard areas and a winemaking history stretching back thousands of years, yet remain relatively unknown internationally? How did communist rule transform Romania's once-celebrated wine industry? How does Romania's geography create such diverse wine-growing conditions?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Anne-Wies Van Oosten.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Highlights
Why should wine lovers add Romania to their must-visit list?
How do Romania's Carpathian Mountains, major rivers, and Black Sea coastline create such diverse wine-growing conditions?
What makes Transylvania's wines particularly fresh?
How are climate change and changing tastes influencing red, Rosé, and sparkling wines produced in Romania?
Why should wine lovers check Romanian wine labels carefully when choosing between dry and traditionally sweeter styles?
How can Romania have one of Europe's largest vineyard areas and a winemaking history stretching back thousands of years, yet remain relatively unknown internationally?
How did communist rule transform Romania's once-celebrated wine industry?
What role did Romania's entry into the European Union play in reviving its wine industry?
What connections remain between Romania's ancient winemaking traditions and the indigenous grape varieties grown today?
What is the mysterious Golden Medias wine mentioned in Bram Stoker's Dracula?
 
About Anne-Wies Van Oosten
Anne-Wies is a well-known wine, food, and travel journalist from the Netherlands, currently living in Romania. She obtained the degree Register Vinoloog of the Wine Academy® in the Netherlands, finished the WSET Level 4 Diploma and graduated as Weinakademiker at the Austrian Weinakademie with her thesis about 'The Development and Future of Wine Tourism in Transylvania'.
She spends part of the year at her home in Transylvania, where she visits Romanian wineries. The other part, she travels the world to visit other wineries and to participate as a member of the jury in international wine competitions.
Every day, she shares her insights and knowledge on wine and food on her platform Anne-Wies.nl and, on a freelance basis, on other websites.
She is very active on social media, on which, amongst others, she shares her articles. On a monthly basis, she reaches over 20.000 Wine & Food lovers from all over the world.
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/415.

How have wineries helped rebuild communities devastated by natural disasters? Why do Japanese vineyards often grow grapes overhead on pergolas instead of traditional trellises? Why is sake a better match for fish and certain cheeses than wine?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Nick Rowan
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Highlights
How are Japanese wineries helping communities rebuild after devastating earthquakes and tsunamis?
Why do Japan's strict farmland ownership laws make it so difficult for wineries to expand?
What makes Hokkaido particularly attractive to foreign winemakers looking to establish larger vineyards in Japan?
How do Japan's unusual pergola-trained vines and individual grape umbrellas protect vineyards from the country's challenging climate?
Why were Japanese wineries producing wine for submarine sonar equipment during World War II?
What makes Japan's artisan cheese industry an unexpected discovery for wine lovers?
Do Japanese Koshu wine and saké pair better with certain cheeses than traditional high-acid wines?
Why should wine lovers approach Japanese wine tastings more like a selection of sushi rather than expecting one bold, powerful wine?
When is the best time to visit Japan's wine regions, and which seasons should travellers avoid?
How does wine fit into Japanese food culture when saké already has such deep culinary and cultural roots?
Did the hugely popular Drops of God manga and television series help Japanese wines gain recognition, or mostly reinforce the appeal of famous European wines?
Why are some Japanese winemakers deliberately limiting sales of their rare wines rather than encouraging collectors to stockpile them?
What should wine lovers know about Japanese wines before tasting them for the first time?
 
About Nick Rowan
Nick Rowan spent his early 20s in rural Japan, blissfully unaware of Japanese Wine. Having spent over a decade deep-diving into the world of wine, developing an interest in lesser-known grapes and wine regions, he has combined the two in this, his first book. He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his partner who has put up with his wine obsession the whole time. They both wish they had a pet cat.
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/414.

What would surprise you about Japanese wine? How has climate change transformed Japan's once-frigid Hokkaido into one of its most promising wine regions? How did a chance encounter in a Japanese wine bar lead to a winemaker rediscovering a wine he'd almost forgotten making? How did a 13-year-old samurai smuggled out of Japan become California's celebrated Wine King?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Nick Rowan.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Highlights
What makes Japan's wine world surprisingly small, even with regions hundreds of kilometres apart?
Why did Japanese wines once have a reputation for tasting artificially sweet and how have they since evolved?
What makes Japan's wine industry so much more diverse than most wine lovers realize?
Why are some of the world's lesser-known wine regions attracting adventurous wine lovers?
How are Japanese wineries using animals to manage their vineyards and support local communities?
What archaeological evidence suggests people in Japan made wine thousands of years ago?
Why do Japan's geography and climate have more in common with New Zealand than with many traditional European wine regions?
Why is Japanese wine production relatively small and what challenges does that create?
How is climate change transforming Japan's wine regions?
How did a 13-year-old samurai smuggled out of Japan become California's celebrated Wine King?
What makes Japan's climate challenging for growing traditional European wine grapes?
What gives the delicate, understated Koshu grape its distinctive character?
 
About Nick Rowan
Nick Rowan spent his early 20s in rural Japan, blissfully unaware of Japanese Wine. Having spent over a decade deep-diving into the world of wine, developing an interest in lesser-known grapes and wine regions, he has combined the two in this, his first book. He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his partner who has put up with his wine obsession the whole time. They both wish they had a pet cat.
 
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/413.

Why does a Manhattan cocktail and a hamburger make an insanely great pairing? Can strongly brewed black tea really scratch the itch for whiskey in a non-alcoholic Old Fashioned? How did the arrival of drinking straws make new types of cocktails possible?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Kara Newman, the author of eight cocktail books.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
One of you is going to win a copy of one of Kara Newman's The Cocktail Cabinet. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com. I'll choose two people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
Why has Audrey Saunders' Old Cuban endured as a modern classic while so many other cocktails have disappeared?
What happens when you replace the gin in a Negroni with a funky Jamaican rum?
What does setting a cocktail on fire actually add beyond the theatrics?
Is a Manhattan and a burger the ultimate food and cocktail pairing?
Have low and no-alcohol drinks have become too important for the drinks world to ignore?
How can aquafaba recreate the frothy texture of egg whites in a cocktail?
Why does the order of a dry shake and wet shake matter when making a frothy cocktail?
How can acid phosphate create the tartness of citrus without adding lemon or lime?
Why is balancing sweetness one of the hardest challenges when creating a great non-alcoholic cocktail?
Can strongly brewed tea really scratch the itch for whiskey in a non-alcoholic Old Fashioned?
How did early drinking straws make ice-filled cocktails like the Sherry Cobbler easier to enjoy?
What does Kara think the zero-proof spirits industry still needs to get right?
 
About Kara Newman
Kara Newman reviews spirits for Wine Enthusiast magazine, where she's also a writer-at-large covering cocktails, spirits and bar culture, from Cuban rum to the world's tiniest two-seat bar. Her work also appears in publications including Afar, Bloomberg Pursuits, Food & Wine, PUNCH, and the Wall Street Journal and BBC Travel. She's the author of seven cocktail books -- soon to be eight!
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/412.

France has Champagne. Italy has Prosecco. Spain has Cava. So what's the new Canadian sparkling wine style that's just launched? Will Canadians remain loyal to domestic wines once American wines return to store shelves? Is the wine industry making a costly mistake by assuming young drinkers will turn to wine as their incomes grow? How could boxed wine change the way you think about buying and enjoying wine at home?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with John Boynton, CEO of Arterra Wines Canada.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Highlights
How can boxed wine overcome its reputation for being cheap and become a practical choice for everyday drinking?
Why does John believe large-format wine offers one of the best values in the alcohol category?
If Friday nights are increasingly spent at home, how can wine become more relevant to the people sharing that occasion?
Is the idea of one bottle for everyone becoming a poor strategy for the wine industry?
What does Arterra's consumer data reveal about whether younger drinkers will naturally start drinking more wine as their incomes rise?
How many Canadian wine drinkers are likely to stick with Canadian wine once American wines fully return to shelves?
What can the wine industry learn from the decline of newspapers?
Could greater scale help Canadian wineries compete on price and export more wine internationally?
Does Canada have the potential to become a major sparkling wine producer?
What makes Fracette distinctly Canadian compared with other styles of sparkling wine?
Why does John want Canadians to stop saving sparkling wine for special occasions?
 
About John Boynton
John Boynton is the President of Arterra Wines Canada. He oversees the domestic and international sales, marketing and operations of Canada's leading wine company.
John joined the company in 2022 from NordStar (parent company of Torstar) where he held the role of Vice Chair and President of Digital. He was previously the President and CEO of Torstar and Publisher of The Toronto Star.
John is an experienced CEO with a proven track record of helping companies transform and grow – successfully turning strategy into action. He leads his teams in a way that aligns to our purpose and values, focusing on teamwork and collaboration.
Throughout his 35-year career, John has worked in Sales, Marketing and Operations – for many different industries. He has experience in building both customer and direct-to-consumer relationships as well as in mobile, digital, data and ecommerce.
A Canadian, John has lived and worked in Canada, the US and Europe.
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/411.