Last night, we were joined by special guest, founder and winemaker, Joel Peterson of Ravenswood Winery, discussing the history of Zinfandel. Click on the arrow above to watch the video. Listen to Joel’s witty stories about winemaking. Learn about the fascinating history of Zinfandel. Discover the best pairings for Zinfandel. If you’d like to read the 42 comments for this tasting, or make a comment yourself, visit: https://www.facebook.com/natdecants/videos/10155095648434845/ P.S. Want to know when we go live next Sunday with our special guest Rudi Rabl of Austria? Tune in here for our Facebook Live Video Wine Tasting: www.nataliemaclean.com/live Click […]
Food & Wine Pairing
Mother’s Day Gifts, Wines and Pairings
By Natalie MacLean How to thank Mom for all those kisses, compliments and band-aids? Try a great bottle of wine with Mother’s Day gift, brunch or dinner pairing. As a mother myself now, I call my glass of wine at 5 p.m. “Mommy’s little helper.” Here’s to you Mom! Here are my Top 20 Wines for Mother’s Day, either made by women or named for them. Often the latter were originally made by women. Try these wines that I recommended on the Conde Nast site Epicurious.com or more choices on Canada AM and in More Magazine: Veuve Clicquot Champagne France […]
Getting Nutty at Alvear Montilla-Moriles Fortified Wine Tasting
Greg Hughes Wine Writer & Sommelier For 18 generations, (nearly 300 years) the Alvear family have been making wine. These wines use a similar production method as do the wines of Sherry, and therefore also have a similar style, yet they are unique. They are made from Pedro Ximenez grapes from Montilla Moriles instead of the traditional Palomino Fino grapes. We had the chance to taste the wines and discuss them with Maria Auxiliadora; the winemaker responsible for their continued quality. Pedro Ximenez (Pronounced Peh-droh ee-MAY-neth) is a small grape with a thin skin. The Pedro Ximenez grapes are […]
Salmon Dill Crepe Recipe Paired with Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand
Salmon Dill Crepes Paired with Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc By: Shari Goodman When you need a break from the busyness of the holiday season, it’s nice to catch up over a delicious but deceivingly simple make-ahead brunch. I used to think crepes were too difficult to make home. I thought of them as something special to be ordered when dining out. But I’ve discovered that although the first crepe often ends up in the garbage, a batch of crepes is easy to make and impressive to serve guests. You can make the crepes ahead of time and store them layered […]
Versatile Vinho Verde: Spring Splendor in the Glass
Last night, we were joined by special guest, Pedro Costa, Head Winemaker of Aveleda Winery chatting about his Vinho Verde wines and why they’re such a great wine style for spring. This was actually a 2-part video series as I managed to melt down my computer’s CPU with multiple simultaneous broadcasting streams to Facebook Live, Twitter Live vis Periscope and YouTube Live Stream ;) You can watch part one above by clicking the arrow, then part two below. Cheers, Natalie Join us on the Sunday Sipper Club, April 9 at 6 pm eastern (Toronto time) with special guest Food Network […]
Plonk Wine Videos Stumble Blindly into Brilliant Insight
In his book How to Love Wine, New York Times wine columnist Eric Asimov observes: “I’m sometimes dismayed that sommeliers confuse their professional training with what consumers need to know to enjoy wine. We don’t need to know whether you can identify wines blind. “Those are just parlor games for professionals. I think that professionals, like sommeliers, need to be able to communicate with the public in a language that they understand and that they find useful.” When I tasted wines blind with Eric at the paper’s headquarters several years ago, he lived those words. The blind tasting was to […]
The Ancient Greeks Invented Invented Map Making — to Help You Find Their Wines
The ancient Greeks invented map making. They had to help people find their wines. As the third-most mountainous country in Europe, Greece’s distinct topography enables the cultivation of cool weather grapes in a warm weather climate, an unexpected attribute of Greek wines and their diverse terrior. But it can also make them hard to find. Hence, the need for maps. One of Greece’s greatest white wines comes from the Moschofilero (MOHS-koh-FEE-leh-roh) grape. If you’ve been looking for a dry Riesling but always find them too sweet, Moschofilero is for you. It has an aromatic, floral bouquet so its dryness will […]
The Ancient Greeks Invented the Concept of Pairing Wine and Food Together
Last week in Toronto, I attended a terrific tasting of Greek wines, with more than 40 Greek wineries pouring more than 120 wines at the Royal Ontario Museum (thus the dino). According to the Greek embassy of economic and trade affairs, Greek wine exports to Canada are up 66% since 2010 and are also up 7.5 percent so far in 2017. Last night, we were joined by a special guest, Christina Boutari, North America Brand Ambassador of her family’s wines, to chat about them as well as the surprising changes in Greek wines. Join us on the Sunday […]
The Ancient Greeks Created the Idea of Pairing Wine and Culture
How lucky that wine and culture pair so well together Let us introduce you to wines made from the Xinomavro (ksee-NOH-mah-vroh) grape. These are wine lovers wines, for those who want to debate the great statues of ancient Grecian temples, or perhaps the writings of philosophers like Homer. Yes, it was Homer who famously said, “Sorry Marge. Some wise guy stuck a cork in the bottle.” (Same Homer, right?) Regarded by many as Greece’s best red wine, Xinomavro has many similarities to Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo producing a wine that has a nice amount of acidity. If you love wines from Burgundy […]
Ontario’s Best Sommelier to Compete for National Title
Last night, we were joined by special guest Emily Pearce-Bibona who has just been named Ontario’s Best Sommelier in a gruelling day-long competition. Click on the arrow above to watch the video. We went behind the scenes with Emily to chat about what it was like to compete (and win) in this competition hosted by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers. Plus, she shared her expert tips on tasting and enjoying wine, including how to choose a great bottle from a restaurant list, with the help of your sommelier, of course ;) You can read 69 comments here and […]
