How do you find wines that are affordable, but still delicious and not too corporate or homogenized? Is there really a big difference in quality and taste between a $10 and a $30 wine? Does your ability to taste diminish as you get older? How can you become a better wine taster? Marc and I [...]

Gerald Asher is my favourite wine writer: elegant and effortless in his prose. In 1974, the French government awarded him the Order of the Mérite Agricole, France’s oldest Civil Award, and in 2009 he was inducted into California’s Vintners’ Hall of Fame. His books, drawn mainly from his columns in Gourmet Magazine, for which he [...]

The end of the year always brings flurries of new wine books, many of which are destined to become gifts for some wine lover. Two topics are getting a lot of attention this year: budget wines, and the tension between technology and “naturalness” in winemaking. For a view of “budget” wine, there’s “Unquenchable: A Tipsy [...]

I chat with radio hosts Mark and Francis about restaurant wine lists, from advice on how to choose wines from a list to whether the markups are fair. We also cover a wide variety of other wine topics, including how do you earn a living from wine writing and the new book Unquenchable to shopping [...]

The countdown to New Year’s Eve begins! Here are some terrific sparkling wines to help you celebrate. So many wine regions now produce bubblies: there’s a style and price point to make everyone feel festive. Cheers! Natalie

While most people still reserve a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine for New Year’s Eve and the occasional toast while out for dinner, you really don’t need a formal reason to pour yourself a glass of bubbly.  In fact, Champagne is one of the most food friendly wines available and I encourage you to [...]

Traipsing around the world sampling the finest wines each region has to offer is the burden Natalie MacLean has chosen for herself — an unlikely career for a Nova Scotia-bred, Ottawa-based wine writer who didn’t grow up drinking  the nectar of the gods. “It was beer and whiskey on the table,” says MacLean, adding that [...]

Did you ever want to take a trip to wine country with an expert who could not only give you background on what you were tasting and how it was made, but is also loads of fun and not afraid to tip back a few glasses of wine with you? Well, Natalie MacLean isn’t giving [...]

‘Tis the season for feasts, treats and wine tasting. Here are some of our top picks for the food or wine lover on your list. Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines by Natalie MacLean Good food requires that perfect bottle of wine! With this in mind, Canadian award-winning author Natalie MacLean [...]

This holiday season give a book to your favorite wine, spirits or culinary lover: Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest For The World’s Best Bargain Wines by Natalie MacLean. This timeless book is full of insider tips, hilarious humor, adventures, funny stories and key tips on how to locate wines with the best value. MacLean takes her [...]