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

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 accident
• Leaving rap behind at the Peninsula Hotel in LA
• Becoming the first Black wine auctioneer in the US
• The 1998 Chevalier-Montrachet that changed everything
• Building the Wine & Hip Hop podcast to 110 episodes
• Wine & Hip Hop — from a two-day harvest party at Clos Vougeot to a global series
• Tasting Notes from the Streets: why jerk chicken and Lambrusco make perfect sense
• Wine as a social equalizer — and why the industry needs more entry points
• Early 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

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