Natalie MacLean's Blog, page 25

Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings February 3, 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 January 20th. These are just some of the benefits of supporting out 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 about what […]

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Galentine’s Day Wines for Your Besties Get-Together (Video)

Valentine’s Day is coming up, but what if you’re not in a relationship? There’s a special day for you, too. It’s called Galentine’s Day and it happens every year on February 13th. On CTV News, we chat about terrific wines to drink on both days.   Let’s start with what is Galentine’s Day?   – It’s one of those made-up micro-holidays, like Friendsgiving just before Thanksgiving, that’s a reaction against the day that commercializes romance and instead celebrates platonic love/female friendship and the bond that lasts longer: women and wine!   – As one embroidered pillow on Etsy read: Happy […]

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Romantic Pairing: Wine and Chocolate

  In this month’s Costco Connection Lifestyle Magazine I chat with the editor about my favourite wine and chocolate pairings for Valentine’s Day. Here are my favourite wines for chocolate in liquor stores now. While many of us like to think we’re going to be creative with our Valentine’s Day gifts this year, let’s be honest. On February 13, we’re going to rush out and purchase our favourite standbys: wine and chocolate. And why shouldn’t we? Everybody likes this duo; they’re wildly delicious and indulgent, and they usually lead to a good time (insert suggestive eyebrow raise here). But what […]

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5 Romantic Wine & Chocolate Matches for Valentine’s Day

Bev and I chat about 5 to-die-for wine and chocolate pairings on Canada AM. Bev: Valentine’s Day is famous for flowers and romance and decadence. Mix in a little vino and a sweet treat and you’ve got quite a celebration. Natalie MacLean is the author of Unquenchable. She’s an expert when it comes to wine pairings, and this morning she’s in our studio to help us choose fine wine and chocolate combinations. Which is so perfect. Does it get any better than that?     Natalie: No, especially if you like to layer your vices. So, don’t just have wine […]

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Liquid Seduction: 9 Wines for your Valentine

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. Wine has long been associated with romance. Here are my top 10 wines for Valentine’s Day, not only because of their sexy names, but also because the wine in the bottle is equally as seductive.   Fifty Shades Of Grey Red Satin 2011 California, United States No mention of the book that inspired this wine, but no matter, it was launched this month as the liquid seduction tie-in to the book. Of course, there are lots of aromas of fresh and tanned leather on the nose and it’s voluptuously full-bodied … Natalie’s full […]

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Defining Musty Attics, Band-Aids and Rotten Eggs with Keith Grainger, Author of Wine Faults & Flaws

Introduction When it comes to wine, what do descriptors like the musty attic, rotten eggs and Band-Aids mean? How does a wine’s packaging make it more susceptible to faults? Are there ways you can fix a faulted wine at home rather than throwing out the bottle or returning it? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Keith Grainger, author of Wine Faults & Flaws: A Practical Guide. You can find the wines we discussed here.   Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at […]

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50 Ways to Keep Your Lover: Matching Wine and Chocolate

50 Ways to Keep Your Lover this Valentine’s Day Want to seduce someone this Valentine’s Day? Just share a glass of wine (or three) with your sweetheart. Wine is liquid sensuality: Its heady bouquet stimulates the appetite and its velvet caress soothes that desire. What other drink is described as both ‘voluptuous’ and ‘muscular’? And when you pair wine with the mouth-coating luxury of chocolate, the combination is impossible to resist. The creamy flavors of chocolate go best with sweet, full-bodied, high-alcohol wines. Find wines to complement 50 chocolate dishes in my matching tool at www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher. Just click on “desserts” […]

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The Ultimate Super Bowl Wine and Snack Pairings

This Facebook Live Video Wine Tasting above, we chat about pairing wine with Super Bowl snacks. You can click on the arrow above to play the video. We’re joined by guest winemaker, David Joeky of Casella Family Brands to help us get ready for the big game. You’ll find our most recent live video wine tasting here: www.nataliemaclean.com/live We taste every Sunday evening at 6 pm eastern so add us to your calendar and grab a glass of wine. Click on the buttons for “Share” and “Like” on the page above to get notified when we go live. If you’d like to […]

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Identifying Wine Faults and Flaws with Author Keith Grainger

Introduction How can you tell when a wine is mildly corked versus you just don’t like it? Which main types of wine faults and how can you identify them? Why are inexpensive wines actually less prone to faults? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with Keith Grainger, author of Wine Faults and Flaws: A Practical Guide, which won the coveted 2022 Prix de l’OIV. You can find the wines we discussed here.   Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at 7 pm eastern on Instagram […]

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How do you serve icewine? Food pairings with icewine?

    How do you serve icewine? Serve icewine chilled; an hour or two in the fridge will allow it to reach the ideal drinking temperature of 10C-12C. The traditional time to serve it is at the end of the meal, when most people already feel full. Many producers feel that icewine shouldn’t be called a dessert wine, as it stereotypes the wine into being consumed only at the end of a meal, when most people are already full. Conversely, French sauternes is also served at the beginning of a meal with dishes such as foie gras and cheeses. Icewine […]

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