As the weather cools, we enjoy heartier dishes, including comfort food. But which wines should you pair with them? Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com. First off, are there such things as comfort wines? After much research on this topic, I concluded there were no “uncomfortable wines” since I found them all of great comfort. However, I found that certain wines tend to pair better with comfort food than others. Great! Tell us about your first pairing. Comfort food tends to have rich, robust flavours. […]
Fall Wines: A Warming Taste Trend
Wine styles are as seasonal as clothing. In the summer, I drink light, refreshing wines that remind me of a simple T-shirt and shorts: perfect for sun-baked beaches and country road strolls. But in the fall, my wine, like my clothes, becomes warmer, more layered and better able to combat those cool winds of October. In the video above, Leanne and I chat about fall fashions in wine, from the run-way to your dining room table. The wines featured in this show include: Robert Mondavi Private Selection Chardonnay, California Toasted Head Chardonnay, California Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon, California Santa […]
Fall Wines: Grapes, Regions and Food Pairings: BNN Video
In the video above, we discuss the best wines of fall food pairings from around the world on the Business News Network (BNN). You don’t have to pay a lot to get great value in your glass these days. Click on the arrow above to play the video and find out which wines over-deliver on their price point. Pamela: As the season changes your wine list should change too. We could all use some tips on picking a good bottle of wine, with great value. I caught up with Natalie MacLean who is a wine writer and also author of […]
Pizza Wine: Perfect Pairings for Your Pie
Liza, Jeff and I chat about pairing pizza and wine on Global TV’s Morning Show (while the cameramen and studio crew edge in ever closer to the set). Click on the arrow to watch the video above. Queen Margherita Pizzeria made these mouth-wateringly delicious pizzas fresh and hot, featuring first the classic Margherita Pizza. This pizza was named in honor of Queen Margherita, the wife of King Umberto I, in 1889, when the couple visited Naples and wanted to taste the local pie. Queen Margherita Pizzeria’s Margherita Pizza A chef selected patriotic toppings with the colors in the […]
10 Best Grenache Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Grenache
Grenache or Grenache Noir (pronounced gren-aash) is also known as Garnacha in Spain, and as Cannonau in Corsica and Sardinia, Italy. You’ll find my Top 10 Grenache reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Grenache: 1. The best Grenache grapes come from old vines and low yields and they are generally blended with other varieties such as Syrah, Mourvedre, Carignan, Tempranillo and Cinsaut. It is usually in a blend, rather than a single varietal wines, because Grenache lacks tannin, colour, and acid. However, the exception to this is the Sardinian D.O.C. wine Cannonau di Sardegna, which is by law 99% […]
Best Kosher Wines + What’s the Difference with Regular Non-Kosher Wines? (Video)
On CTV News, we discuss what makes a wine kosher, how these wines are different from non-kosher wines, and what modern kosher wines taste like. Two of the most important Jewish holidays take place this month, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Both are celebrated with kosher wine, which traditionally was viewed as sweet and characterless. However, our wine expert says that’s no longer true. Here with her kosher tips and sips is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine pairing classes at nataliemaclean.com. Let’s start with what is kosher wine and how is it different from non-kosher […]
How Wine Fosters Creativity, Trust and Sociability with Edward Slingerland, Author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization
Introduction How does alcohol, especially wine, foster our creativity, trustingness, and sociability? What does the “beer before bread” hypothesis suggest about alcohol’s role in the development of civilization? Should there be different minimum drinking ages for wine and beer versus spirits? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Edward Slingerland, a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia and the author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. You can find the wines we discussed here. Giveaway Two of you will win a copy of his terrific book, […]
The Best Wine Classes and Courses With Your Online Tasting Tribe (Video)
Many of us are starting to learn about wine online. Here to chat with us is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine and food pairing classes, including a free, wine and food pairing intro class here. What have you observed that’s changed in the way people learn about wine during the lockdown? – The lockdown forced a mindset shift that you can learn about such a sensory subject like wine online just as effectively, if not more so, than in a physical class. – So there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of people taking […]
8 Best California Wines to Drink Now
A new crop of Californian wines are hitting liquor store shelves this month. Here to tell us about which ones we should look for is Natalie MacLean, who offers North America’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com. Give us an overview of California wine, Natalie. California wine country is vast, stretching from the Oregon border in the north, down to Mexico in the south: wine grapes grown in 49 of California’s 58 counties. California accounts for more than 80%of U.S. wine production and is the fourth leading wine producer in the world. That said, many wineries are […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings August 24, 2024
You can access the wines that I reviewed as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. If you are a Paid Member, you can add my wine picks to your custom shopping list with one click and access that list on your smartphone to find the stock for each wine in your closest LCBO store. You can also see my wine reviews for August 10th. These are just some of the benefits of supporting our wine community as a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Curious […]
