Our guest this evening is Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW). She herself became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997. She is also selects all of the wines for the Opimian Society, Canada’s largest wine buying club. And she joins me live now from California: Welcome Jane Masters! P.S. Tune in here for our next Live Video Wine Tasting: www.nataliemaclean.com/live Click on the “Follow” and “Like” buttons on this Facebook page to get notified when we go live. We’ll be simultaneously broadcasting on Facebook Live, YouTube Live Stream and Twitter Live Video via Periscope. Watch previous […]
Women and Wine
Video: Blending Wine & Medicine with Argentina’s Dr. Laura Catena
What a terrific chat with Dr. Laura Catena, a fourth generation Argentine vintner, physician and author! Click on the arrow above to watch the video. Listen to Laura’s stories about why Catena wines are so special. Discover more juicy tips that will make you wine smart. Cheers, Natalie We’ll be simultaneously broadcasting on Facebook Live, YouTube Live Stream and Twitter Live Video via Periscope. Watch previous episodes of the Wednesday Wining Show (WWS) and find out who’s coming up next. If you’d like to read the comments for this tasting, or make a comment yourself, visit: https://www.facebook.com/natdecants/videos/10155436261769845/ Here’s a sampling […]
Men v Women on Wine: The Score v The Story?
• Men stay in their comfort zones; women are more adventurous. • Women shop for communal gatherings, men for themselves. • Men are geared toward impressing, women toward pleasing. • Women buy wine for the short term (sharing), men for the long term (hoarding). • Men buy on the basis of testimonials from experts, women on tips from friends and merchants. • Women order wine by the glass at restaurants; men order bottles. It started back in, well, the Garden of Eden. In the beginning, it was Eve, inquisitive and experimental, who first sampled a “forbidden” fruit. And once she […]
Wine for Women: Bottle of the Sexes
I love tasting and writing with tongue in cheek. Here’s my column in More Magazine about so-called women’s wines. Personally, I can’t resist a pink label or cuddly squirrel. I guess I’m just at the mercy of those intrepid marketing teams … it’s like they read my mind after I had been drinking too much of Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Shiraz … More articles about women and wine. You go girl!
Kim Crawford Pinot Noir Salad Dressing Recipe
Kim Crawford Pinot Noir Salad Dressing Recipe Sponsored Post by Kim Crawford Wines The ultimate wine pairing only takes a drizzle to dazzle. Use Kim Crawford Pinot Noir to put a flavorful flourish on seasonal salads. INGREDIENTS: Kim Crawford Pinot Noir Sugar DIRECTIONS: In a wide saucepan or skillet, combine Kim Crawford Pinot Noir with sugar (a good ratio is 3 cups wine to 1 cup sugar), bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until syrupy and reduced to about a third of the volume. Let cool, bottle, and refrigerate. You can also pour it back into the […]
Top 100 Wine Sites > New Rankings: Who Made the List?
My Twitter feed lit up last night with good wishes from various parts of the planet … I clicked through to the link in one tweet and discovered that this site had just been ranked #2 in the Top 100 Wine Sites in the world. On the list: Jancis Robinson, editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine; Dr. Jamie Goode, author of The Science of Wine; James Suckling, former editor of The Wine Spectator magazine; Steve Heimoff, former editor of The Wine Enthusiast magazine, Alice Feiring, columnist for the New York Times; and Tim Atkin, columnist for the UK’s Observer […]
Tale of Two Niagara Wineries: Reif Winery Makes Big Impression
As a photographer, I capture many wonderful moments in life, with no two moments ever being quite the same. This weekend, I found out in my travels to the Niagara Region, the same can be said for its wonderful abundance of world-class wineries. This is my story about visiting two wineries in the Niagara region at opposite ends of the spectrum, one small and one large, to see just how different they really were with respect to service style, approachability, ambiance and overall experience. In Part One of Tale of Two Wineries, I wrote about my experience visiting Ravine, considered to most as […]
The Champagnes of James Bond and Rappers: Bollinger and Cristal
Part 2: Champagne Widows By the 1930s, French winemakers faced even greater challenges: a country about to go to war, a worldwide Depression that made running any business difficult, and U.S. Prohibition, which made selling luxury champagne to the lucrative American market almost impossible. Camille Olry-Roederer This was the forbidding business environment that Camille Olry-Roederer stepped into when she took over the champagne house Louis Roederer after losing her second husband in 1932 (her first husband had died in World War I). Sales were 264,000 bottles that year, compared to 2.3 million bottles in 1876. 1954 1954 […]
Kim Crawford Wine Pairs Well with Milestones and Birthdays
By Melissa Pulvermacher A 25th birthday should be celebrated with several bottles of wine and a great dinner. That’s exactly how the summer-long festivities began for Milestones at their Dundas Square location in Toronto, with General Manager André Barrett, Head Chef Jason Rosso and Kim Crawford’s New Zealand Portfolio Director Matthew Deller. As expected, Rosso hit it out of the park immediately with a table full of Crab Salad Crostini, Crispy Halibut Tacos and Mini Spinach Dip Taco Bowls. The food was on the table, but a great meal needs wine pairings to take it to the next level. Matt […]
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 […]