Entertaining Anecdotes and Delicious Wine Recommendations – Reading Between the Lines

New Release: “Unquenchable” by Natalie MacLean If you know me personally, you probably know that I am a BIG wine fan. I’m not quite a connoisseur but I know enough to understand my father when he begins the wine talk as he decants and I can follow along when visiting a vineyard or wine bar. I’d love to learn more though–and with my friend Natalie MacLean’s new book, Unquenchable, releasing today I now have a great opportunity. Whee! Natalie has traveled the world researching, tasting, and exploring some of the best bargain wines. She’s taken those experiences and blended them […]

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Ladder brands like Penfolds Shiraz Cabernet offer Great Value at the Entry Price – CBC Ottawa Morning

Lots of tips here for bargain wine shoppers, including searching for ladder brands, those that start at $14 and go up to more than $100. Often they offer extreme value at their entry price points, as does Penfolds Cabernet and Shiraz labels. Click on the arrow below to play the interview. You can watch and listen to more interviews about buying wine.  

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Unquenchable is #4 on the Bestseller List – Calgary Herald

Update: November 19: Unquenchable is now #4 on the Bestseller list! Weird and wonderful for a wine book :) November 6 I love Calgary, it’s my new favourite city! They know how to enjoy life: wine and words! The Calgary Herald just published it’s Bestseller book list based on sales… and I was floored that Unquenchable, a niche wine book, has actually climbed to #6 one week after publication. I can’t wait to raise a glass or three with Calgary wine lovers November 19 at Pages Bookstore! Cheers, Natalie

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Rollicking Travelogue of her Journeys Around the World in Search of the Best Vino – Washinton Post

Interesting review and discussion here of several wine books that focus on bargain wines from the wine columnist for the Washington Post… Someone has declared war on wine. I think it’s the Tea Party. One salvo came from Slate, which used to be known for intelligent wine writing until it fired its wine writer, Michael Steinberger. Early this month, Slate published an essay by Brian Palmer under the headline, Drink Cheap Wine. (Palmer has probed other searing questions for Slate such as why Americans don’t eat horse meat and why some people pee themselves and others don’t.) Palmer quotes a […]

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Canadian Wine Writer Pens New Bestseller – Wine Access Magazine

Wondering what to get for your favourite wine lover this holiday season? Consider a copy of Canadian wine writer Natalie MacLean’s new book. The book, Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines, chronicles MacLean’s lively forays into wine regions and interviews with some of the world’s top winemakers, both familiar (Australia’s Wolf Blass) to less-known but equally influential (Italy’s Andrea Franchetti); the book is already on bestseller lists across Canada. Her award-winning first book, “Red, White and Drunk All Over,” was also a bestseller. It was published in 2006 in seven countries and several languages. In addition […]

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Unquenchable Becomes a Page-Turner after Reading a few Pages – Winesworld’s Magazine

Unquenchable is packed with colourful stories about passionate personalities who inhabit the world of wine, award-winning writer Natalie travelled to Germany, Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and the Niagara region in Ontario in search of in-depth knowledge and value bottles. After all, she is of Scottish origin, and cannot resist a bargain. She conveys her deep love and knowledge about wine (she worked as a sommelier, as a cellar hand, and has been involved with wine for a few decades) in her witty writing style. The narrative is so captivating that Unquenchable becomes a page-turner after reading a few pages […]

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Engaging, Lively and Informative Wine Writing for the Wine Novice – Dave’s Travel Corner

Join wine writer Natalie MacLean’s wine and travel world as she jets from one continent to another, from one wine region to the next exploring her passion for wine and highlighting some of the best values out there. Her style of writing is engaging, lively, and informative to the wine novice and educated consumer alike. She meets with owners and winemakers and explores the “stories” behind the wine. The book highlights the uniqueness, differences, and challenges that winemakers face in their respective regions. It is a wine book with truly a global perspective. At the end of each chapter/region Natalie […]

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Chuckling at her Funny Tales, Captured by the Unique History of each Winery – Cookbooks and Apps

Don’t get me wrong… I love to drink wine.  That said, I  am definitely not a connoisseur, just one of those people who may not know about wines, or even want to really learn all the ins and outs of the various grapes,  the distinctive wine making processes, or any of the other facts that real wine aficionados savour as much as the flavour.   I’m one of those who hopes that the person selling the wine, really knows what will be the perfect choice for the dinner I’m preparing. The subtitle says it best “A Tipsy Quest for the World’s […]

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Wine History and Definitions are Subtly Slipped into the Stories – San Francisco Bay Guardian

My recent flights overseas required some serious reading, and finishing Natalie Maclean’s new Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines (www.nataliemaclean.com) helped a 10-hour flight pass quickly. Each section hits a different part of the world in search of high quality, value wines. From South Africa to Sicily, wine terms and history are subtly slipped into stories about individual winemakers and pairing recipes. A cheery book cover belies Ms. Maclean’s skill with imagery (she’s won the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award and four James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards). For example, in her particularly engaging chapter on German […]

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Good Wine Doesn’t Have to be Expensive – Real Moms Love to Eat

Around the World in 8 Days: A Wine Guide That Gets It Right I’m no wine snob, but I can appreciate a good glass of…basically whatever my husband might hand to me. He’s even invested in a wine cooler so he can keep bottles stored at the right pressure and temperature. But do either of us know all the right words to use when describing it? Could we hold our own in a room filled with real wine connoisseurs? Not a chance, unless it involved talking with one of my new favorite writers, Natalie MacLean. This gal is a wine […]

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