Our guest this evening is a third-generation winegrower from one of America’s most historic winemaking families. At just 10 years old, she tended the gardens with her father and grandfather, and spent her high school summers working alongside her brothers and sisters at the Gallo Family Vineyards. After studying winemaking at the University of California at Davis, she became an apprentice winemaker under the careful guidance of her grandfather Julio Gallo. And she joins me live now from her home in Napa Valley: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Gina Gallo! Note: YouTube has the audio and video out of […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings June 9
You can access the 134 wines that I reviewed for as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for May 26. 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 day or two […]
A Detective Story in Search of Wine’s Mysterious Past (Video)
Our guest this evening is a former MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and former Associated Press Correspondent. He began investigating one particularly mysterious vineyard and then quickly found himself caught up in a viticultural detective story—complete with false leads, DNA evidence, and rare grapes hidden in remote valleys around the world. And he joins me live now from his home in Florida: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Kevin Begos! Note: YouTube has the audio and video out of sync. So either close your eyes and listen, or you can watch it on Facebook here. What drew you to this […]
A Vine Celebration: The 120th Anniversary of Nino Negri Wines
In October, I traveled to Italy with great excitement to participate in Nino Negri’s 120th Anniversary celebration. As I drove through the historic wine region of Valtellina, I was captivated by its breathtaking beauty and eager to participate in this year’s wine harvest. Valtellina is a serene valley at the foot of the Lombardy Alps, on the Italian-Swiss border. The “vine”, the heart of this difficult mountainous terrain, has found perfect growing conditions here. The vineyards are protected by two high mountain chains, the Retiche Alps and the Orobie Pre-Alps. Exposure to the sun at high altitude, as well as a significant […]
Fancy Farm Girl Sue-Ann Staff Makes Down-to-Earth Wines (Video)
Our guest this evening is a fifth-generation grape grower who grew up on the largest privately-owned vineyard in Canada, the Sue Ann Staff Estate Winery. Today, she is one of Canada’s top winemakers, winning more than 500 national and international wine awards, including being twice recognized by the International Wine and Spirits Awards of London, England as one of the top four “Women in Wine” in the world . And she joins me live now from her winery: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Sue-Ann Staff! What was the exact moment when you realized that you wanted to make wine? […]
Rarity versus Royalty in Piemonte Wines: Lessona, Bramaterra, and Ancient Colli Biellese Grapes
By Greg Hughes A lot more than popularity determines the prosperity of a wine region. Circumstances change the reality of existence for producers all the time and as rational people, we do what is best for ourselves, our family, our community. We can see this occurring with climate, as wildfires ravage California, and in general change, the lateness of growing conditions and harvest of many wine regions globally. Throughout history this has happened many times before, though not always were the circumstances due to bad weather or climate. At the foot of Mount Rosa and the Bo range of […]
Tasting Spring Fresh #Wine from Austria with Rudi Rabl
We were joined by special guest, Rudi Rabl, founder and winemaker at Austria’s Rabl Winery discussing the Ultimate Wine for Spring. Click on the arrow above to watch the video. Listen to Rudi’s story about becoming the 12th generation of Rabl winemaking. Learn about the flexibility of Grüner Veltliner. Discover the best pairings for Grüner Veltliner. If you’d like to read the 33 comments for this tasting, or make a comment yourself, visit: https://www.facebook.com/natdecants/videos/10155115055649845/ You’ll find upcoming and past Live Tasting Videos here. Here’s a sampling of our lively discussion from our tasting… Lynn van der Linde · […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings May 26
You can access the 137 wines that I reviewed for as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for May 12. 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 day or two […]
Open Mic Night! Ask Me Anything About Wine (Video)
Our scheduled guest for this evening, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, injured her back. We’ll reschedule with Mary when she’s feeling better. So instead we did open mic night, and had lots of fun chatting about a wide range of wine topics. Want to know when we go live with our next guest? Click on “Get Reminder” on the page below: www.nataliemaclean.com/live Click on “Get Notified” at the link above to know when we go live. You can also click on the “Follow” and “Like” buttons. Watch previous episodes of the Sunday Sipper Club (SSC) and to find out who’s coming up next. […]
Video: Behind the Scenes to Create the Quick Start to Tasting Wine Like a Pro
As I get ready to launch my new free online wine class The Quick Start to Tasting Wine Like a Pro, I’m going to take you behind the scenes to see how it’s going. I’m super excited about this course, now having revamped it completely based on the excellent feedback from two test groups. Stay tuned for more posts right here! This past Sunday, our team of wine writers gathered to taste 70+ wines. These folks are so smart and good at what they do, yet not a snob in the bunch ;)
