Fancy Farm Girl Sue-Ann Staff Makes Down-to-Earth Wines (Video)

Our guest this evening is a fifth-generation grape grower who grew up on the largest privately-owned vineyard in Canada, the Sue Ann Staff Estate Winery. Today, she is one of Canada’s top winemakers, winning more than 500 national and international wine awards, including being twice recognized by the International Wine and Spirits Awards of London, England as one of the top four “Women in Wine” in the world . And she joins me live now from her winery: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Sue-Ann Staff! What was the exact moment when you realized that you wanted to make wine? […]

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Tasting Spring Fresh #Wine from Austria with Rudi Rabl

We were joined by special guest, Rudi Rabl, founder and winemaker at Austria’s Rabl Winery discussing the Ultimate Wine for Spring. Click on the arrow above to watch the video. Listen to Rudi’s story about becoming the 12th generation of Rabl winemaking. Learn about the flexibility of Grüner Veltliner. Discover the best pairings for Grüner Veltliner.   If you’d like to read the 33 comments for this tasting, or make a comment yourself, visit: https://www.facebook.com/natdecants/videos/10155115055649845/ You’ll find upcoming and past Live Tasting Videos here.   Here’s a sampling of our lively discussion from our tasting… Lynn van der Linde · […]

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Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings May 26

  You can access the 137 wines that I reviewed for as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for May 12. 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. 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 […]

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Open Mic Night! Ask Me Anything About Wine (Video)

Our scheduled guest for this evening, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, injured her back. We’ll reschedule with Mary when she’s feeling better. So instead we did open mic night, and had lots of fun chatting about a wide range of wine topics. Want to know when we go live with our next guest? Click on “Get Reminder” on the page below: www.nataliemaclean.com/live Click on “Get Notified” at the link above to know when we go live. You can also click on the “Follow” and “Like” buttons. Watch previous episodes  of the Sunday Sipper Club (SSC) and to find out who’s coming up next. […]

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Video: Behind the Scenes​ to Create the Quick Start to Tasting Wine Like a Pro

As I get ready to launch my new free online wine class The Quick Start to Tasting Wine Like a Pro, I’m going to take you behind the scenes to see how it’s going. I’m super excited about this course, now having revamped it completely based on the excellent feedback from two test groups. Stay tuned for more posts right here!     This past Sunday, our team of wine writers gathered to taste 70+ wines. These folks are so smart and good at what they do, yet not a snob in the bunch ;)

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The Smart Woman Behind the Wine for Dummies Books (Video): Mary Ewing-Mulligan MW

Our guest this evening is the first woman in America to become a Master of Wine. This title represents the highest level of knowledge and proficiency in the wine trade. Currently, only 380 people worldwide are Masters of Wine, including 51 in the U.S. She is co-author (with her husband, Ed McCarthy) of “Wine For Dummies” and 7 other wine books, with around two million copies sold and translations into 38 languages. It is one of the best-selling wine books ever. She was also wine columnist for The Daily News in New York City for more than ten years, and […]

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What are Vegan and Vegetarian Wines?

Our guest this evening has been involved in his family winery since he was five years old. After working in the wine production cellar, he became a published songwriter. But despite his love for music, he felt called back to the vineyard and in 2008 became Chief Operations Officer in 2008 then CEO in 2012. Recently he has become a director of the Canadian Vintners Association and Vice-Chair of the British Columbia Wine Institute. And he joins me live now from his winery: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Ezra Cripes of  Summerhill Pyramid Winery! What was the exact moment […]

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Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings May 12

  You can access the 129 wines that I reviewed for as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for April 28. 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. 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 […]

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Why Austrian Wine Means Summer in a Glass (Video)

Our guest this evening is the Deputy Managing Director of the Austrian winery Winzer Krems. His grandfather was one of the founding members of the local cooperative that merged with Winzer Krems in 1962. Ludwig has spent his life as part of the winery, starting when he was a young boy helping his parents in the vineyards. And he joins me live now from his home in Austria: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Ludwig Holzer! It’s midnight there, and you just finished hosting a week-long music festival … the main stage is just outside your office. Has last concert […]

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How Are Family-Run Wineries Different? Henry of Pelham Video

Our guest this evening, Daniel Speck, is one of three brothers who, as children, shovel planted the modern-day vineyards that became Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery in Niagara’s Short Hills Bench. The Speck brothers founded the winery with their parents, a family venture which began in 1984. After Daniel graduated from philosophy, math and science at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, he returned to work on the farm/winery. After fourteen vineyard-years he migrated from the farm to the marketplace and today is Vice President of Sales and Marketing. And he joins me live now from the winery: Welcome […]

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