Mother’s Day is this Sunday. You might like to toast mom with a glass of wine or two, but what can you pair with wine beyond flowers? How about some terrific new books?
Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean, who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com.
What are you recommending first?
I have The Sugar Bowl Feud by Halifax author Gina Brown is about four grieving siblings who inherit their mother’s house full of stuff.
When the oldest chooses the sugar bowl as a keepsake, sparks fly. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, but also filled with compassion, family drama and love.
This is a new book isn’t it?
Yes, Gina is hosting two book launch events, one tomorrow at 7 pm at the Halifax Central Library on Spring Garden Road and the other in Dartmouth at the Woodlawn Public Library on June 11th. The events are free and you can find details at www.novaheartmedia.com
What would you pair with this novel?
Given the sibling’s quandary, I’d pair this book with the aptly named Conundrum Red or White, I couldn’t decide, so both. They’re made by the Wagner Family in California, who also make the coveted Caymus wines.
These wines are juicy and bursting with fresh fruit flavours, so I’d also dare to pair them with a Mother’s Day breakfast burrito.
Conundrum Red
California, United States
Conundrum White
California, United States
What’s next?
The Glow Code: A Cheat Sheet for Feeling, Looking, and Being Your Best at Any Age by Canadian author Michelle McIvor. This book is packed with practical tips on everything from applying eyeliner to getting better sleep.
Michelle is like your smartest, funniest girlfriend who always has great advice. This book comes out in June, but you can pre-order it now online or in any bookstore so that your Mother’s Day celebrations continue next month and really, they should go year round, speaking as a mother myself.
What’s the best wine for this book?
I have a beautiful Nova Scotia rosé from Gaspereau Vineyards. The winemaker, Gina Haverstock, was recently named Winemaker of the Year at the Wine Growers of Canada awards.
Gaspereau Vineyards Tidal Bay Rosé
Nova Scotia, Canada
She’s not only the first person outside of Ontario and BC to win this prestigious award, but she’s also the first woman.
This rosé has vibrant notes of fresh field strawberries that would be perfect with brunch favourites like bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon.
What’s next?
The heroine of Possessed, Josephine, escapes from her dull day job to an island in the Adriatic Sea, where she meets a beautiful man with a haunting story. This novel is intimate, dark and funny while it explores desire and the supernatural.
There must be a wine for that?
I have the Violette Sparkling Wine from Niagara because what is Mother’s Day without sparkling wine? The bonus is that you won’t want to mix this one with orange juice for a mimosa because it’s so tasty on its own with flavours.
The wine is named after Violette Selfridge, daughter of the Selfridges department store founder in England. She flew a propeller airplane across Europe and Africa ten years before Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic Ocean.
She also marched on the streets of London with the suffragettes in the 1920s to protest that women should be allowed to vote. It pairs well with spinach quiche and the taste of victory.
Westcott Vineyards Violette Sparkling Brut
Ontario V.Q.A., Canada
Sounds great! Finally, which wine would you pair with your latest book, Natalie?
Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much reads much better when you’re drinking all of these wines, or any wine, but if I’ve paired it with Pure Vision Chardonnay from Australia because in memoir hindsight is 20/20 and at the time I couldn’t see a way through the personal and professional upheavals in my life.
Pure Vision Wines Zero Chardonnay
Adelaide Plains, South Australia, Australia
The bonus is that it’s alcohol-free, yet it tastes amazing with aromas of tart green apple, white peach and pear. It would be perfect with fluffy, buttery scrambled eggs and toast.
Plus, my book is a sobering journey, though it does have humour and a happy ending ;)
Posted with permission of CTV.
