Unreserved Wine Talk

Should wine competitions give judges the option to say that none of the wines in a category deserve a medal? Why have some classic regions become inaccessible while others remain within reach for wine drinkers? What does it mean for a wine to gain wisdom as it ages?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Neal Hulkower, a PhD rocket scientist, who has just published his first book, Grape Explications.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
Three of you are going to win a copy of Neal Hulkower's terrific new book, Grape Explications. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
What was one biostatistician's objection to the way wine competitions were scored?
Why does Neal fundamentally disagree with the view that some judges' opinions should carry more weight?
What are the Power of None and the Stars and Bars method and how do they change the way judges assess competitors?
Why did Neal apply these ranking methods to historic tastings like the Judgment of Paris, and what did the results reveal?
What did revisiting his tasting notebooks from the 1960s and 1970s reveal about wine prices, aging, and accessibility?
How did Neal set a personal ceiling on wine price, and how does that shape what he considers drinkable?
Why have some classic wines remained attainable while others are now priced out of affordability?
How did opening a carefully chosen older bottle reinforce Neal's belief that wine can gain wisdom as it ages?
 
About Neal Hulkower
Neal D. Hulkower is an applied mathematician and freelance writer living in McMinnville, Oregon. His first contributions to a wine publication appeared in the early 1970s. Since 2009, he has been writing regularly about wine-related topics for academic, trade, and popular publications including the Journal of Wine Research, the Journal of Wine Economics, American Wine Society Wine Journal, Oregon Wine Press, Practical Winery & Vineyard, Wine Press Northwest, the Slow Wine Guide USA, and The World of Fine Wine and on wine-searcher.com, trinkmag.com, and guildsomm.com. Neal is a member of the American Wine Society, the American Association of Wine Economists, and the Circle of Wine Writers. His first book, Grape Explications, was released in 2025. He can occasionally be found pouring some of Oregon's finest in a tasting room at the top of the Dundee Hills.
 
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/377.

How can a single bottle of wine completely change your understanding of what wine can be? What makes a wine so remarkable that you can almost taste it again in your memory decades later? Why are people drawn to tasting notes even when words can never fully capture the experience of tasting and smelling wine?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Neal Hulkower, a PhD rocket scientist, who has just published his first book, Grape Explications.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
Three of you are going to win a copy of Neal Hulkower's terrific new book, Grape Explications. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
What surprised Neal most when he reread five decades of his own wine writing while compiling Grape Explications?
How has his palate, perspective, and choice of writing topics evolved throughout his life?
Why did self-publishing matter so much to Neal?
How did Neal's first experience with wine shape his early expectations of wine?
How did tasting classified growth Bordeaux as a college student completely reset his understanding of what wine could be?
How did the Duncan Hines Memorial Bon Vivant Fellowship turn academic milestones into structured wine rituals?
Why did Neal choose a 1959 Steinberger Trockenbeerenauslese to mark his PhD, and what made that bottle unforgettable?
How did keeping meticulous notes help Neal develop his palate and his writing voice?
What pushed him to leave academia for industry?
Which emerging wine regions was Neal exposed to through moving across the US?
What changed when Neal left a high-level technology career to become a freelance wine writer?
How has Neal merged his two passions, wine and mathematics?
 
About Neal Hulkower
Neal D. Hulkower is an applied mathematician and freelance writer living in McMinnville, Oregon. His first contributions to a wine publication appeared in the early 1970s. Since 2009, he has been writing regularly about wine-related topics for academic, trade, and popular publications including the Journal of Wine Research, the Journal of Wine Economics, American Wine Society Wine Journal, Oregon Wine Press, Practical Winery & Vineyard, Wine Press Northwest, the Slow Wine Guide USA, and The World of Fine Wine and on wine-searcher.com, trinkmag.com, and guildsomm.com. Neal is a member of the American Wine Society, the American Association of Wine Economists, and the Circle of Wine Writers. His first book, Grape Explications, was released in 2025. He can occasionally be found pouring some of Oregon's finest in a tasting room at the top of the Dundee Hills.
 
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/376.

Why did this author start the book with tasting, rather than history, regions or grapes? Was that because you wanted to get right into the sensory experience, rather than maybe some of the drier knowledge? Why is your experience of what tastes good as personal as a fingerprint? When it comes to wine, what do you mean by structure? Why are these important, these structural components? Do you think they matter more than identifying that, that wine's from Burgundy, that wine's from Bordeaux?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Jordan Salcito, author of Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, & Everyone We Know.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
Three of you are going to win a copy of Jordan Salcito's terrific new book, Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, and Everyone We Know. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
Why does our first impression of a wine's aroma matter more than we realize
Why did Jordan ultimately walk away from the Master Sommelier service exam?
How did the title Smart Mouth come together and capture the spirit Jordan wanted for the book?
Why did Jordan choose to begin Smart Mouth with tasting instead of regions, grapes, or wine history?
Why does Jordan see point scores and rigid wine hierarchies as a form of ego rather than a useful guide for drinkers?
How do different people visualize or conceptualize wine while tasting?
How does Jordan's concept of wine personas differ from traditional tasting language?
What does the TALL framework explain about wine structure?
How can simple sensory exercises help drinkers identify tannin, alcohol, acidity, and earth-driven flavors with confidence?
 
About Jordan Salcito
 
Jordan Salcito is an award-winning sommelier, author, and entrepreneur. A wine industry veteran, she has over a decade of experience as a sommelier at restaurants including Momofuku, Restaurant Daniel, and Eleven Madison Park (where she was part of the team to win the award for Outstanding Wine Service from the James Beard Foundation). Her wine programs at Momofuku were regularly recognized in The New York Times, Eater, and Food & Wine, and were named "Most Creative Wine List in the World" by the World of Fine Wine magazine. A pioneer of the ready-to-drink beverage category with her organic Italian spritz company, Drink RAMONA, Salcito will also published her first book, Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, & Everyone We Know, with Penguin Random House's Ten Speed Press.
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/375.

What makes a wine feel soulful, transporting you beyond taste into a deeper emotional connection? What does experiencing harvest firsthand reveal about winemaking that never show up in books? What makes Northern Rhône Syrah come across as black peppery, smoky, and reminiscent of pastrami?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Jordan Salcito who has published Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, & Everyone We Know, which was just selected as one of the best wine books of the year by the New York Times.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
Three of you are going to win a copy of Jordan Salcito's terrific new book, Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, and Everyone We Know. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
How did Jordan's father shape her earliest understanding of wine as family and connection?
How did working at Restaurant Daniel shift how Jordan understands wine, fine dining, and food and wine pairing?
What does Jordan mean when she describes certain wines as soulful?
What's the difference between the old world approach focused on place and the new world approach focused on control and construction?
Why did working harvests in Burgundy teach Jordan that could never be learned from books?
How did molecular gastronomy pioneer Wylie Dufresne help her see restaurants as a legitimate intellectual and creative path?
How did an early rejection from The New York Times become a signal to redirect her goals?
Why did failing the advanced sommelier tasting exam become the foundation for eventually passing the Master Sommelier tasting on her first attempt?
 
About Jordan Salcito
Jordan Salcito is an award-winning sommelier, author, and entrepreneur. A wine industry veteran, she has over a decade of experience as a sommelier at restaurants including Momofuku, Restaurant Daniel, and Eleven Madison Park (where she was part of the team to win the award for Outstanding Wine Service from the James Beard Foundation). Her wine programs at Momofuku were regularly recognized in The New York Times, Eater, and Food & Wine, and were named "Most Creative Wine List in the World" by the World of Fine Wine magazine.
Long a student of wine, Salcito passed the tasting portion of the Master Sommelier exam on her first attempt and feels fortunate to have learned so much though working harvests at world-renowned wineries in Burgundy, Tuscany, California and Patagonia. A pioneer of the ready-to-drink beverage category with her organic Italian spritz company, Drink RAMONA, Salcito will also publish her first book, Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, & Everyone We Know, with Penguin Random House's Ten Speed Press this October. Jordan lives in Paris with her family.
 
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/374.

What goes into creating a successful international wine brand that tells a story before the bottle is even opened? What does it look like to build a young wine brand vintage by vintage? What makes Bordeaux such a hard place to break into as an outsider?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Namratha Stanley, author of the new memoir Vineyard Melody.
You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.
 
Giveaway
Three of you are going to win a copy of Namratha Stanely's terrific new book, Vineyard Melody: How One Woman Rebuilt Her Life, One Grape At A Time. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!
 
Highlights
What was it like arriving alone in rural Margaux for an internship?
What made Namratha push through fear, exhaustion, and the pressure of a visa dependent on work?
Why is the French concept of terroir so powerful in understanding the connection between place, identity, and wine?
Why did Namratha make the decision to build her own wine brand instead of becoming an agent for existing wineries?
How did the name and branding for Solicantus come together, and what influenced these choices?
How did a single LinkedIn message lead to Solicantus wines being listed with the LCBO in Canada?
What did the first international sale feel like after years of uncertainty and effort?
Why is Namratha passionate about building philanthropy into her wine and book business?
How did reuniting with her daughter in France mark a turning point for Namratha?
 
About Namratha Stanley
Namratha Stanley is the debut author of Vineyard Melody, a memoir chronicling her personal and professional transformation. Once confined to a patriarchal household in India, where she was barred from working, she broke free from marital violence and moved to France in 2017 to pursue a Wine MBA. She went on to found Wine Equation, a Bordeaux-based wine merchant company, and created Solicantus, her signature wine brand now distributed in five countries. Today, she serves as Program Director at INSEEC (Omnes), mentors women and students, and donates part of her wine sales to support children's education in India. Her journey—from traditional housewife to entrepreneur—has been featured in Forbes, Decanter and many other magazines. Namratha lives in France with her daughter and two cats, continuing to write and grow her wine business.
 
 
 
To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/373.