In the video chat above, Master Chocolatier Derrick Tu Tan Pho shares his tips for pairing wine and chocolate for Valentine’s Day and any other time of the year when you want to indulge. He knows his sweet stuff having won gold at the Culinary Olympics in the categories of sugar, chocolate, wedding cakes and dessert presentation. How did you train for the culinary Olympics? Your secrets to making great chocolate? What is the strangest chocolate sculpture you’ve created? Tell me about some of your specialized tools for making chocolate: induction burners, ganache frames, guitars, robot-coupes, heat guns and […]
Liquor up Your Lover on Valentine’s Day
I’ll be chatting with the hosts of the CBC radio drive-home shows from coast to coast this Thursday and Friday about wines for Valentine’s Day. But we’re going to depart from the usual natter about which wines are most seductive or how to pair them with chocolate. We’ll go straight to the heart of the matter: how do you liquor up your lover on February 14? More specifically, we’ll talk about why wines are getting more alcoholic these days and how does that affect their taste and ours? Is this just a cultural trend of winemakers responding to the market? Is […]
Chocolate and Wine Pairings that will Surprise (and Seduce) Your Valentine
We paired wine and chocolate for Valentine’s Day the Sunday Sipper Club! You can watch our Live Video Wine Tasting above — click on the arrow to play. Join is for our next tasting this Sunday at 6 pm eastern right here: www.nataliemaclean.com/live Sip with you soon! In this second Facebook Live Video Wine Tasting above, we also chat about pairing wine with chocolate for Valentine’s Day. We’re joined by guest winemaker, David Guimaraen of Fonseca to help us get ready for the big day, as well by guests from Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut. If you’d like to read 140 comments […]
How Do You Become a Master Sommelier: Video with Elyse Lambert MS
Our guest this evening has not only earned the coveted Mater Sommelier designation, but she also was named Canada’s Best Sommelier and came fifth in the World’s Best Sommelier event. She has lots of tips and tricks for us when it comes to learning about and appreciating wine. … and she joins me live now from her home in Montreal: Welcome to the Sunday Sipper Club Elyse Lambert! If you’d like to read the comments for this tasting, or make a comment yourself, visit: https://www.facebook.com/natdecants/videos/10155749534974845/ Here’s a sampling of our lively discussion from our Elyse Lambert Video Chat: […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings January 20
You can access the 103 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 December 9. 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 […]
Live Video Wine and Food Tasting: January 24
Join me for a live food and wine tasting on Wednesday, January 24 at 7 p.m. eastern. I’ll share with you three of my favourite pairings that may surprise you. Taste along with me to see if you agree. We’ll have an online poll at the end when you can vote for your top combo. This tasting will be hosted on Zoom, a video tool similar to Skype, but easier to use. Just login here on January 24: https://zoom.us/j/897555688 If you’ve not used Zoom Zoom before, you’ll be prompted to download the application. I’ll be there early to get […]
Importing Wine for Pleasure and Profit (Video)
Have you ever enjoyed a wine when you were traveling abroad say in Tuscany or Bordeaux, and wondered, how can I import a case of this when I get back home, especially when it’s not in the liquor store? And beyond importing wine for pleasure, what about for profit, whether it’s to save money on your purchases or to get into the business of being a wine importer? That’s exactly what we’re going to learn from our guest tonight, Charles Steven Trenholme. Steven Trenholme has been hosting the seminar Importing for Wine, Beer & Spirits For Pleasure & Profit, since […]
Wachau Valley’s Liquid Gold: Austrian Wine Shines
Wachau Valley By Brigitte Hasbron of The Food Tease Known for its picturesque natural and cultural landscapes around the world, the Wachau Valley is a region where wine enthusiasts and aficionados want to immerse themselves in all things liquid and gold. A wine lover’s place to be. Being a food blogger and seeing how food and wine are synonymous with the perfect marriage, it was fitting that I was invited to two well-known vintners in Lower Austria, specifically in the famous Wachau Valley. The sites of the Danube River and the enchanting towns that we drove through to reach our first vineyard were postcard worthy… even on […]
Live Video Wine Tasting with Jane Masters, Master of Wine and Opimian
You won’t want to miss our live video chat with Jane Masters, Chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine and Wine Consultant for the Opimian Club! Join us Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 6 pm EST right here (click on this link below): www.nataliemaclean.com/live Click on the “Follow” and “Like” buttons on this Facebook page to get notified when we go live. Listen to her stories and experiences as we taste wines together: What did it take to become a Master of Wine? What are her most interesting stories in the world of wine? How does she taste hundreds […]
