CTV News anchor Natalie Piero an I chat about wines for Easter brunch, Passover and other holiday weekend wines. Also check out The Essential Hip-Hop Guide to Easter Wines, which includes pairing ham and wine, lamb and wine, vegetables and wine, and chocolate and wine. Wines for Easter Brunch and Passover Dinner Natalie Piero: Passover starts tonight and of course Easter is coming up this weekend. So Natalie MacLean is here to talk about the best wines to pair with whatever meal you might be serving or having for the holidays. Natalie MacLean: Absolutely, we have a variety of […]
Eggs & Wine
Easter Wines: The Essential Hip-Hop Guide to Earmark
Some of my favourite meals are those we savour to celebrate Easter: fresh asparagus omelets and ham for brunch. But which Easter wines to serve with them? As a determined hedonist, I like something more than orange juice, thank-you—unless it’s a mimosa. The wines that work best are zesty, mouth-watering and lighter than those we drink in the winter—and they’ll put some spring in your glass. When the coming of spring heralds warmer weather, we feel like celebrating. One of the best ways is by drinking fresh, vivacious wines that suit the season and complement lighter fare. You […]
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 […]
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 […]
10 Terrific Wines for Easter and Passover Meals and Treats
Easter and Passover are right around the corner, bringing with them favourite holiday treats from roast lamb to chocolate bunnies. But which wines to pair with them? Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean who offers North America’s most popular online wine and food pairing classes at nataliemaclean.com. Welcome Natalie. Let’s start with the fun stuff, what exactly would you pair with chocolate bunnies and eggs? I’m so glad we’re starting there because dessert is my favourite part of dinner, but it’s also the toughest on wine. The first thing to keep in mind is that the wine should […]
Sunday Brunch Benedict on Potato and Zucchini Fritter Recipe
Sunday Brunch Benedict on Potato and Zucchini Fritter Recipe by Courtney Flood Sunday brunch is my favourite. Long-weekend Sunday brunch is extra special. This meal is a little finicky but worth the trouble. Serves 4. Ingredients: 2 medium zucchini 4 large potatoes, peeled ¼ cup chickpea flour (besam) 9 eggs + 1 egg yolk (divided) 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tsp salt (divided) ¼ – ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tbsp + 2 tsp canola oil (divided) 6 tbsp butter 2 tsp lemon juice ¼ white vinegar 2 cups chopped kale 2 tomatoes, sliced Instructions: Fritters – Shred zucchini on […]
Wine and Egg Pairing: Does it Work?
This story by Shawna Wagman originally appeared on Ottawa Magazine. Eggs are not an ideal mate for wine but mimosas do the trick. For MacLean, eggs are a stomach-filler needed for drinking. The Eater: Natalie MacLean is Canada’s best-known wine writer and self-styled “wine cheapskate”. She is the author of Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines, which was recently awarded a Taste Canada food writing award for the best English-language culinary narrative. The Place: I learned my lesson dining out with MacLean a few months ago at Brothers Beer Bistro; for her food is an afterthought, […]
Food & Wine 25
Some wines are definitely a better fit with certain foods, but I admit I lived many years without realizing just good a food and wine pairing could acutally be. On my one and only visit to Lumiere – during the Rob Feenie years – I ordered a ten-course tasting menu and the matched flight of wines for each course. I was humbled. The food was good. Each course was either a single bite of something quite special or a few bites of something sumptuous. There was Israeli couscous and paper thin smoked duck breast and goat cheese cheesecake and lots […]
Eggs & Wine
The morning had been spent stomping through some of Bordeaux’s most storied vineyards in a cold Atlantic wind, and now lunch was being served at Chateau Palmer. The cozy first course was a deceptively simple one: eggs baked in a ramekin with red wine, bacon and onions. We all dug in, using tablespoons and sturdy strips of toast, as the last of the springtime chill seemed to melt away. And, of course, there was a wine to help warm us, 1994 Chateau Palmer. Drinking a $120 bottle of red wine with eggs was an epiphany. It seemed odd and excitingly […]
Vegetables & Wine 3
You have the color-coded cheat sheet memorized: red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat. But what do you drink when your meal is sans meat altogether? Though the Vegetarian Resource Group reports that only an estimated 2 to 3 percent of Americans are strictly vegetarian, another 30 to 40 percent are flexitarian, eating a veggie meal or two each week. Meat-free meals do have their advantages. For one, they’re healthful. The American Dietetic Association says diets that include a variety of vegetarian foods tend to result in lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, type […]
