9 Best Wines to Pair with Holiday Turkey Dinner (Video)

The holidays are right around the corner. So here with her tips to make your holiday entertaining a breeze is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com.   What’s your first tip? Keep it simple. I’m not sure why many of us turn into frantic mini-Martha Stewarts at this time of this year, wanting everything to be perfectly matching, preparing everyone’s side dish, stocking our cellars with more wine than we could possibly drink in a month, but we do. So take a breath, relax and start with bubbly. Sparkling wine is a great aperitif […]

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How to Pair Wine with People on Your Gift List (Video)

‘Tis the season for holiday entertaining and gift giving. What if you’d like to give someone a bottle of wine? How do you know which one to choose? How much do you spend? Here to help us with that is wine expert Natalie MacLean.   Welcome Natalie. So if choosing the right wine is so tricky, why should we give wine as a gift at all? When you give the gift of wine, doubles are fine unlike toaster ovens, there are no wrong sizes unlike that ugly sweater and re-gifting is so much easier compared to fruit cake or a […]

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6 Best Wine Gifts and Gadgets (Video)

A great bottle of wine is an obvious first choice for the wine lover on your gift list this holiday. But what if you want to pair that bottle with a useful and imaginative wine gadget? Here with her tips and sips is Natalie MacLean, who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com   Welcome Natalie. What is the first useful gadget you recommend?   Unless you have a wine closed with a screw cap, the most essential gadget is a corkscrew. This is called the Waiter’s Friend Corkscrew.         It’s named that because it’s […]

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11 Best Wines to Pair with Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner

No other holiday celebrates the gift of wine like Thanksgiving. But which wines to pair with turkey and all the side dishes? Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean, who offers Canada’s most popular online wine pairing classes at nataliemaclean.com   What’s your top tip when it comes to pairing wine with Thanksgiving dinner?   Wine is a taste of the harvest along with all the delicious dishes on the table. But actually choosing a bottle can feel like a thankless task, especially with so many flavors to match from sweet creamed corn to more bitter greens and veggies, plus […]

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8 Great Holiday Wines & Spirits (Video)

On CTV’s Your Morning, we chat about the holidays. As they approach, we look forward to entertaining friends and family. What’s a good drink to serve to guests when they arrive?   Sparkling wine is the drink of celebration, especially at this time of year. I’d recommend these two:             Township 7 Vineyards & Winery Seven Stars Sirius 2015 Okanagan Valley, British Columbia BC, V.Q.A., Canada                 PondView Estate Winery Bella Terra Sparkling Rosé 2020 Niagara Peninsula, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada         Both are zesty and […]

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Fall Wines: Grapes, Regions and Food Pairings: BNN Video

In the video above, we discuss the best wines of fall food pairings from around the world on the Business News Network (BNN). You don’t have to pay a lot to get great value in your glass these days. Click on the arrow above to play the video and find out which wines over-deliver on their price point. Pamela: As the season changes your wine list should change too. We could all use some tips on picking a good bottle of wine, with great value. I caught up with Natalie MacLean who is a wine writer and also author of […]

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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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New Memoir Becomes National Bestseller – CTV Morning Live

  Watch CTV’s Morning Live video here Editor’s Note: You’ll find more media coverage for the book here. Looking for a sizzling summer read? In her new memoir, Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much, Natalie MacLean writes about resurrecting her life and career in the glamourous but sexist wine industry. The book has just become a national bestseller. Welcome Natalie.   So what is the book about?   Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much starts with my shock when my husband of […]

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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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