Sparkling wines and champagne for New Year’s Eve is our topic in the CTV News clip above. Here’s a list of the bubblies we discussed, including cava from Spain, cremant from France and sparkling wines from Canada and the US. Let me know which sparkling wine you’re opening for New Year’s Eve in the comments below. You can get a shopping list with my top sparkling wines showing the stock at your closest liquor stores when you join as a VIP Member. Girls Night Out Sparkling Wine Ontario V.Q.A. Clean, crisp and refreshing: this is a terrific […]
Niagara Wine
Best Bubbly for New Years? There’s a Wine for That
In our continuing holiday wine series with Canadian Press (CP), we chat about great sparkling wines for New Year’s Eve. You don’t have to go for Champagne, even though this is the traditional treat. There are terrific options from around the world, including Spanish Cava, Italian Prosecco and sparkling wine from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States, among many other regions. Natalie MacLean, editor of Canada’s largest wine review site at www.nataliemaclean.com, chooses her favourite sparkling wines: Kim Crawford Small Parcels Fizz Sparkling Wine Marlborough, New Zealand […]
9 Sparkling Wines That Make Great Holiday Gifts
On CTV’s Your Morning, we chat about how most people think of sparkling wine as the drink of choice for the holidays. What’s the difference between champagne and other sparkling wines, and the two you recommend? Although champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France, almost every other region of the country and many other countries around the world produce sparkling wines, often using the same winemaking methods and grapes as champagne. I have two classic champagnes: Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne Champagne A.O.C., France […]
How to Pair and Serve Wines at Dinner Parties (Video)
The hosts of CTV’s The Social and I had lots of fun chatting about which wines to serve at dinner parties, pairing tips and other entertaining suggestions. If you’re hosting a dinner party, how many wines should you serve? Count on one to two glasses of wine per guest per hour, as people tend to drink more in the evening and at a sit-down dinner, than they do at a standing reception earlier in the day. There are 4-5 glasses of wine in a standard 750 ml bottle, so if you’re entertaining ten people for, say, three hours, counting […]
Pairing Wine with Weird Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes (Video)
You may have some wines in mind for your Thanksgiving roast turkey, but what should you drink with non-traditional recipes, like turducken or deep-fried turkey? That’s what Lindsey and I chat about on CTV’s Your Morning, the country’s national breakfast show. Let’s start with beer can turkey. What is it and which wines should we have with this dish? So for this wonderfully weird recipe, you sit the turkey on a beer can on a grill, which results in a moist meat, and a crispy, satin-brown skin. Of course, you could pair this dish with beer since you cooked with […]
5 Tips to Pick Wines for Thanksgiving
No other holiday celebrates the gift of wine like Thanksgiving. Wine is a taste of the harvest along with all the delicious dishes on the table. But actually choosing a bottle can feel like a thankless task, especially with so many flavours to match. Relax. Have a drink. And try some of my suggestions for great wines to pair with Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings that Leanne and I chat about in the video above. You can also watch our first video on fall wines here. In my free online matching tool, you can click on “turkey holiday dinner” […]
6 Great Niagara VQA Wines to Drink + Visit
As we enter fall, there’s never been a better time to explore local wines and wineries. Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean who offers North America’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com. Welcome Natalie. First tell us why it’s a great time to explore Niagara wines. – Delicious and pair well with fall dishes – Fall harvest is beautiful time to visit the region – Support local producers, Every bottle of Canadian wine made from Canadian grapes contributes about $80 to the economy versus $18 for an import. $11.6 billion to the economy with spin […]
Pairing Canadian Wine with Salmon, Crab, Lobster (Video)
The long weekend is coming up, and you might be celebrating with a glass of Canadian wine or two, but what should you pair with your vino? Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean, who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com So we’re going to start on the west coast Natalie. What do you recommend? We’ll start with this lovely, zesty Sauvignon Blanc from Red Rooster Winery, nestled high above Okanagan Lake on the Naramata Bench in the Okanagan Valley. It has crisp, fresh aromas of lime zest and lemon sunshine. Red […]
Book & Bottle Pairings for Father’s Day
We’re back with more books and bottles for Father’s Day. What are we starting with this time? We’re starting with Ten Garments Every Man Should Own: A Practical Guide to Building a Permanent Wardrobe by Pedro Mendes. This is an accessible field guide to classic menswear, no matter what dad’s age or budget or the fact he still loves those painter pants from the 80s with all the side pockets. Each chapter covers an essential piece – shirt, jacket, hat, leather shoes, etc – in an entertaining way. Drea’s Wine […]
Mother’s Day Gifts: Pairing Books and Bottles (Wines & Spines)
Mother’s Day is coming up and you may be thinking about getting Mom a special wine. But why not pair that bottle with a great book? Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean, who offers North America’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com. Welcome, Natalie. What’s the first book and bottle you recommend? I have Loving Large: A Mother’s Rare Disease Memoir by Ontario author Patti M. Hall, who discovers her teenaged son is diagnosed with gigantism, a condition that could make him grow uncontrollably, and shorten his life without aggressive treatment. She makes it […]
