Cheddar Pretzels Find Comfort in the Cold And just like that, the holidays are over; they’re gone as fast as they came. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing else to look forward to this winter. It may be cold and snowy, but that means you can have fun sledding in the park and skiing. And the best part about that is: you get to have some après-skiing snacks. Like this yummy recipe for Cheddar Pretzels. They’re easy to make, and so, so delicious. Made with Canadian Medium Cheddar, they are the perfect salty, sharp, and savoury snack to warm you […]
Best Wines
Best LCBO Wine Reviews and Ratings: Vintages January 10
You can access the 76 wines that I reviewed for January 10 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for December 6. 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 […]
A Wine Lover’s Guide to Becoming a Cheese Addict
I’ve decided. This year, 2015, will be the Year of the Big Cheese. My goal is to learn (almost) as much about cheese as I have about wine. However, wine has a head start of 17 years, thus the qualifier “almost.” This ambitious goal is not based on a great epiphany or even a Road to Damascus realization. However, I had a “come to cheeses” moment. Friends in Toronto sent me a gift box of artisanal cheeses from a local gourmet shop here in Ottawa called Jacobson’s for the holidays. I was fascinated with the various cheeses, and their similar […]
How to Make New Year’s Sparkle with Great Wine?
ON CBC’s Alberta at Noon, we chat about why Champagne is the wine of celebration, not just to welcome the new year, but also to celebrate life’s other highlights. Listen to more chats about sparkling wines. Why is sparkling the most food-friendly wine on the planet? How did savvy product placement make champagne a luxury brand? How to best chill sparkling wine quickly? Natalie MacLean, editor of Canada’s largest wine review site, recommends her favourite wines for New Year’s Eve and Day: Veuve Clicquot Non-Vintage Champagne Champagne A.C., France This classic, well-known Champagne is a traditional blend of Chardonnay, […]
Veuve Clicquot Champagne: Riddle Me This!
Above: Designer Karim Rashid created a Love Seat for Veuve Clicquot’s Yellow By Design exhibition, a modern take of an 18th century love seat blended with the rose colour seats to complement the Veuve Clicquot wine. Part 1: Champagne Widows Madame Clicquot wasn’t just a saleswoman, she also developed the technique called remuage or riddling, to remove sediment from the wine – a method that was quickly adopted throughout the Champagne region. Veuve Clicquot Riddling Table The second fermentation in the bottle that gives champagne its carbon dioxide also creates sediment, which gives the wine an unsightly cloudy appearance. To […]
Top 5 Gift Wines + Tips on Best Holiday Wines
On CBC radio drive-home shows yesterday we chatted about great gift wines … here are my tips on choosing them plus my top 5. More gift wine tips in this CBC interview, as well as great sparkling wines. Join us again on December 23 to chat about holiday wines and on December 30 for sparkling wines for the New Year. Posted with permission of CBC.
Top 5 Turkey Wine Pairings: Bottles for the Big Bird
In the second part of our holiday wine series on the CBC radio drive-home shows coast to coast we chatted about great wines to pair with your turkey dinner. You can listen to my tips above on choosing those wines plus my top 5 picks. Join us again next week, on December 30, when we chat about great sparkling wines for the New Year. Natalie MacLean, editor of Canada’s largest wine review site, selects her top five wines for your holiday dinner to pair with turkey and the side dishes: Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut […]
How to Write a Wine Review: Tasting Notes that Tell a Story
Each week, I issue a challenge to those who post reviews on our site. If you’d like to get the latest challenge when it goes out, please e-mail me at natdecants @ nataliemaclean.com. Use All Five Senses Use all five senses to describe a wine. We tend to lean on just two as wine writers: smell and taste. But what about colour, texture (mouth-feel, weight) and even sound as you pour the wine, or other ambient sound in your environment, such as what’s playing on your stereo to make this wine even more memorable? Evoking all five senses will make […]
Toronto Sommelier at Four Seasons Pours a Glass for Chef Thomas Keller
Drew Walker, wine director at Café Boulud & D Bar in Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Niagara, in Port Dalhousie, with my parents Bruce and Nancy, and my older sister Kate. Tell us about a time when your life was different? When I was 19 years old, I lived in the Caribbean and worked long hours as a bartender in a great little bistro in the Cayman Islands. It was my first experience in the food and beverage industry, and it shaped me quite a lot. I learned so much from the […]
Peanut Noodle Salad Recipe Paired with Sparkling Wine
Peanut Noodle Salad Recipe by Courtney Flood This dish is a good go-to for me. I love the myriad of flavours in peanut satay sauce and I could eat almost anything that has it slathered on. It’s also a good way to use some fresh veggies you might have on hand. I used cucumber and carrot, but you could also use cabbage, zucchini, green onion, bell pepper, bean sprouts, peas, etc. You could also top with grilled chicken, pork, or beef if you are a meat eater. Ingredients: 1 large English cucmber 2 large carrots ½ small onion, thinly slice […]
