Importing Wine, Beer & Spirits for Pleasure & Profit Seminar Saturday November 5th, 2016 Novotel Toronto Centre 45 The Esplanade – Toronto 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM Join Charles Steven Trenholme for the day-long seminar Importing for Wine, Beer & Spirits For Pleasure & Profit, which provides insights into the dynamics of importing wine, craft beers & spirits into Canada. Charles Steven brings to the seminar 35+ years of experience working in various capacities including managing national sales agency, brand management, sommelier and as educators. Charles Steven knows first-hand that there are still hundreds of suppliers around the world actively […]
Author: Natalie MacLean
Chilean Cool Climate Wines at Casas del Bosque Have Historic Roots
Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in our nation’s capital recently for a tasting of Casas del Bosque Chilean wines with head winemaker, Grant Phelps. Grant’s presentation style is a perfect blend of wit and education. Monique Sosa Wine Columnist, Ottawa Family Living Magazine Have you ever met someone when, after hearing them speak for like five minutes, you think, “What a smart dude, and funny too!” Imagine meeting a winemaker like that. It sure made a portfolio of wine tasting both refreshing and fun. Our group of Ottawa-based sommeliers and wine writers got a real treat meeting Casas del Bosque’s […]
Kim Crawford Wines: Blending Passion and Place
In the video above, Kim Crawford Winemaker Anthony Walkenhorst explains how blending works at the winery as we try our own hand at it. Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers met in our nation’s capital recently for a fascinating tasting, and blending exercise, with Kim Crawford wines. Jennifer MacDonald Havers Wine Columnist, Ottawa Citizen Upon entering a beautiful dining room at Courtyard restaurant, our group knew our tasting with Kim Crawford wines was going to be a unique experience. A huge table set with multiple glasses, all but one at each setting containing a sample of […]
Best Turkey Wine for Holiday Dinner? Not One But Many Wines – Reuters
While this terrific article talks about matching wine with Thanksgiving turkey, the tips are just as valid with it comes to Christmas/holiday turkey dinner … Thanksgiving, the holiday that anyone who likes to eat loves to celebrate, is just a week away and experts agree there is not one perfect wine to accompany the feast, but many. “No other holiday celebrates the gift of wine like Thanksgiving,” said Natalie MacLean, author of the new book, “Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines.” “Wine is a taste of the harvest along with all the delicious dishes on the […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings October 1
You can access the 110 wines that I reviewed for October 1 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. 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 […]
Turn Thanksgiving Leftovers into a Great Meal with Wine and Give Thanks Twice
The web abounds with great Thanksgiving turkey recipes, and rightly so. The harvest season is a great time of year and it deserves plenty of celebration. But what are you going to feast on the next day, or the next week, for that matter? Chances are good that it will be turkey sandwiches. What I propose instead is a fun, easy and tasty way to enjoy your leftovers with friends once the big family event has passed. So put a little turkey aside for a delicious Thanksgiving pizza with smoked Gouda, served after a piquant platter of Canadian cheeses paired […]
Red, White and Blue Rodeo: Jim Cuddy launches his own Wine with Tawse Winery
Jim Cuddy, lead singer and guitarist of the band Blue Rodeo, didn’t grow up in a wine-drinking family. In fact, his first alcoholic drink of choice was beer. “When you start playing in bars, you get paid in beer,” Cuddy explains. “At first, I was excited: free beer! But after five years, I couldn’t take any more beer. That’s when I got into wine.” And into it he is. Cuddy has partnered with Niagara’s Tawse Winery to create a new wine brand, Cuddy by Tawse. “Moray and Joanne Tawse are friends of mine,” Cuddy says. “I had played at their winery […]
Food and Wine Mobile App Leads the Charge in the LCBO
Foodie apps for iPhones and Androids are all the rage of late (PC Magazine recently did a roundup of their favourites), and leading the charge is sommelier and “unapologetically tipsy” wine lass Natalie MacLean. She recently launched a mobile wine app, offering roadside assistance for LCBO-goers moored hopelessly between the Argentina and Vintages racks. The app allows users to pair food and drink from anywhere using a smartphone, then share the results via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, text or e-mail. The app is available on the iTunes App or Google’s Marketplace for Android Apps, and provides access to the 200,000 wine reviews she’s […]
Wine Mobile App Features 400,000 Wine and Food Pairings
Reuters: Don’t know which wine to have with a pepperoni pizza? There’s an app for that — as well as websites and Twitter. The number of ways to discover the most suitable wine for a particular dish can be as overwhelming as walking into a large wine shop. More than a dozen apps claiming to be the equivalent of a sommelier in your pocket are available for iPhones and iPods. And there are others for the Android and other mobile devices. But among the most popular is writer Natalie MacLean’s Wine Reviews and Label Scanner App. If you want to find […]
A Wine App We Love: Condo Living Magazine
Having friends over for a dinner party, BBQ or for drinks on the patio can sometimes be more stressful than it should be. It can take a lot of careful thought and planning to find the perfect combination of food and drinks to serve that all your friends and family will like. With that in mind, we found some great apps that will help you plan the perfect meal. Natalie MacLean’s Wine Reviews & Label Scanner The app uses the GPS technology on your phone to connect with real-time inventory numbers at your local LCBO store. It also gives you the […]
