Natalie MacLean's Blog, page 29
January 21, 2024
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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January 17, 2024
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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January 16, 2024
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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January 14, 2024
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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Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings January 20, 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 6th. 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 […]
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How to Pair Wine with Chips, Nuts and Snacks?
On Global Television’s Morning Show yesterday, we paired wine and snacks, from fish tacos to Sriracha chips from Loblaws’ President’s Choice Black Label line. Yes, there is a wine for sea salt giant corn nuts ;) . Click the arrow above to play the video. Wine: Yalumba The Strapper GSM Grenache Shiraz Mataro Food: PC 85% Cocoa Solids Extra Dark Chocolate Bar (100g): imported extra dark chocolate. Food: PC 70% Cocoa Solids Dark Chocolate: Irresistibly delectable, imported pure dark chocolate. Excellent for snacking or baking. […]
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January 12, 2024
Video: Icewine Cocktails and Pairing with Chili Chips
Karen King, who co-owns The Ice House in Niagara with her husband Jamie Macfarlane. In the video above, she chats about how they’re literally shaking it up with icewine, from slushies to pairings with chili snacks and wasabi peas. Click on the arrow to play the video. Questions: You did research that revealed surprising insights about icewine in terms of who’s drinking it and when? What kind of sensory food and wine research were you doing? Icewine is probably Canada’s most iconic wine, but you’re shaking up that perception: how is your style different? Tell me about […]
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January 9, 2024
How to Savour Wine Over Time with Molly Watts of the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast
Introduction What does a healthy relationship with wine look like? Which tricks can you use to lower the alcohol content of your wine? How have my thoughts on overdrinking changed over the years and over three books? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m being interviewed by author Molly Watts of the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast. 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 Live Video, Facebook Live Video or YouTube Live Video. I’ll […]
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January 4, 2024
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings January 6, 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 December 16th. 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 […]
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January 3, 2024
The Toughest Interview for Wine Witch on Fire Explores Shame and Resilience on CBC’s All in a Day
Of all the interviews I’ve done for the book, this one with Alan Neal, host of CBC’s All In A Day show, was the toughest, deepest and most rewarding. Please take a listen: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/... Alan challenged me on the most difficult parts of the book. Both he and I (separately) have heard back from many people about the interview with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Cheers, Natalie You can get Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much from any of these retailers. Alan: Well, in her latest […]
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