Video: Wine + Cheese > Who Wore It Best? Perfect Pairings

Wine and cheese: two of life’s greatest pleasures … On CTV’s The Social, we search for the perfect pairing with a fun take on the fashion quiz: Who wore it best? Which one of two wines paired best with a particular cheese? Find out who got it right and who didn’t ;)     7 Unusually Great Wine & Cheese Pairings Guide     Here are the wines we featured on the show … see links below for reviews and to find them in your local liquor store.     Cheddar Hard cheeses like cheddar become not just stronger, but […]

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Best Barbecue Wines: Pairing Wine with Your Grilled Grub (Video)

Now that we’re officially into barbecue season, you may think of having beer with your grilled grub, but wine can also work. Whether you love BBQ seafood, veggies, chicken or beef, there’s a wine for that. Here with her tips for you is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine and food pairing classes at nataliemaclean.com/class. Welcome Natalie! Let’s start with lighter fare like grilled veggies and seafood. Which wines work well with those?             Loimer Grüner Veltliner Kamptal D.A.C., Austria                 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling […]

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7 Best Wine and Book Pairings: What to Drink While You Read (Video)

Alex and I had so much fun chatting about pairing bottles with books on CTV’s morning show. What’s the first pairing you recommend? We’re starting on the west coast with The New York Times bestselling memoir, Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. After Cheryl loses her mother to cancer and her own marriage is destroyed, she decides to hike the Pacific Northwest Trail, more a thousand miles, from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State alone and without any training. It’s a deeply moving story of how this young woman heals through this treacherous journey     I’d pair […]

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You Say Tomato, I Say Wine: Let’s Pair Them All Off (Video)

On CTV News, we chat about pairing wine with tomatoes, from heirloom to vine-ripened varieties. In Ode to the Tomato, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda described them as “the stars of the earth” that are upon the table, belted by summer” and “grant us the festival of ardent color and all-embracing freshness.” Now is the time to indulge in tomatoes while they’re in season with their thin skins that slide off plump like silk lingerie and yield their juicy, chin-dripping pleasure—the opposite of those tired February pellets that taste like mid-winter despair.     Tomatoes hang heavy in our backyards and […]

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Video: A Toast to Niagara Wines for Canada Day

On CTV News, Leanne and I chat about some of the best wines from Niagara to celebrate July 1. I’ll post these wines below soon. You can watch our other wine video segment here: Prince Edward County Wines and Free My Grapes Happy Canada Day!             Henry of Pelham Cuvée Catharine Carte Blanche Blanc de Blanc Short Hills Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada                 Cave Spring Cellars CSV Riesling Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada                 Cave Spring Cellars […]

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Wine’s Salad Daze: The Ultimate Guide to Pairing Wine and Vegetables

On CTV’s Your Morning Yesterday, the network’s national breakfast show, we paired wine with vegetables and spring produce. Click the video above to watch.                       Intro Pairing red wine with a steak is easy, but can you drink that same wine with fresh spring produce, like asparagus or artichokes? Here to tell us how to pair wine with veggies and salads is Natalie MacLean, the editor of Canada’s largest wine review site at nataliemaclean.com. Welcome Natalie Station 1 Host: Natalie, why are vegetables harder to pair with wine than say […]

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Wines for Summer BBQ, Picnics, Seafood: CJAD Radio

 Which wines to crack open for summer BBQs: big reds for meats and flavourful whites for seafood and veggies. Seven Deadly Zins, Menage a Trois, Innsikillin Riesling, St. Nicholas Cider and Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc. Do you have to pay much a lot for good wine? No, and here’s why. We chat about this and other tasty topics on CJAD radio, one of the largest morning talk shows in the country. Wines for Summer BBQ, Picnics, Seafood: CJAD Radio Barry: 7:41 summer’s here, although it’s kind of tough to tell this morning, but summer is here. So what wines go […]

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Best Summer Wine Pairings

Global News Host Carolyn and I chatted about great summer wines yesterday to please your palate and keep your cool. Here are the wines we featured: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Nobilo Regional Collection Sauvignon Blanc Cave Spring Cellars CSV Riesling       Cave Spring Cellars Estate Bottled Cave Spring Vineyard Pinot Noir Ruffino Ducale Riserva Chianti Classico Clos du Bois Rouge Alamos Malbec McWilliams Wines JJ McWilliam Shiraz Cabernet Barefoot Zinfandel Cave Spring Cellars Indian Summer Late Harvest Riesling             Video: These Summer Wines Will Surprise Your Taste Buds Carolyn: Natalie Maclean is the editor […]

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Pairing Wine & Creative Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Carolyn, Jeff and I chat about pairing wine and grilled cheese sandwiches for Canada Day on the national edition of Global Television’s Morning Show.   These aren’t your ordinary grilled cheese sammies: step it up on July 1 or 4, and create one of these for yourself and for your guests.     Loblaw’s Executive Chef, Mark Russell, created these terrific grilled cheese sandwich recipes. The accompaniments are part of Loblaw’s From Our Chef line.   Here are my favourite Canadian wines that I’ve tasted recently, plus wines from around the world in the spirit of international peace and diversity through food and drink!     […]

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Support Ontario Wineries: Buy Direct and Ship to Your Home (Video)

On CTV News, Leanne and I chat about how Ontario wineries were particularly hard hit by Covid-19, what they’re doing to pivot and how you can help support these local businesses: – Tasting rooms are closed as are major clients, restaurants in general – Most wineries didn’t have wines in the LCBO to begin with because they don’t produce enough wine to fill that channel – The majority of the 180 wineries have fewer than 20 employees – Many are turning to direct shipping   You can get free shipping and other deals here: nataliemaclean.com/niagara   When you buy a […]

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