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 […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings July 6, 2024
You can access the wines that I reviewed as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. 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. You can also see my wine reviews for June 22nd. These are just some of the benefits of supporting our wine community as a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Curious about what […]
The Best Gruner Veltliner Wines: How They Taste, How to Pronounce It + Food Pairings (Video)
Ah summer, we want to hang on to it as long as we can. What better way then with wines that are best enjoyed at this time of the year, especially Austrian Gruner Veltliner, as Natalie MacLean of nataliemaclean.com discusses on CTV. You’ve picked a white wine for us today that some people may not be familiar with. Tell us about it. I have a bouquet of Gruner Veltliners from Austria for your summer sipping pleasure! Grüner means “green” and I think that’s fitting because it offers a lot of lime zest and green apple refreshment in the summer. […]
Why Wildfire Smoke Taint in Wine Intensifies as it Ages with Dr. Wes Zandberg
Introduction Should we, as consumers, be concerned about buying wines from regions which have experienced wildfires? Why does smoke taint intensify as a wine ages? How can wineries mitigate the risk of producing smoke-tainted wine? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with researcher Wes Zandberg. You can find the wines we discussed here. Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at 7 pm eastern on Instagram Live Video, Facebook Live Video or YouTube Live Video. I’ll be jumping into the comments as we watch it […]
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 […]
The Best Online Wine Tasting & Pairing Classes (Video)
As the kids head back to school, let’s chat about how the adults have changed the way they learn about wine, especially with online courses. It’s a virtual world of wine learning at your fingertips. Yesterday, I chatted with Nicole Dube on CTV’s Morning Live show. First, tell us why online wine courses have become so popular? Online courses offer the best of both worlds: they’re accessible to everyone no matter where you live, they’re more comprehensive than a one-off class, but not as technical and time-consuming as college courses. Plus, there’s no drinking, then driving home, […]
Canadian Wine Trailblazers: Canada’s 5 Revolutionary Winemakers
Click on the image above to play the video On CTV’s The Social, we celebrate the long weekend by raising a glass to trailblazing Canadian wineries. These industry pioneers are leading the way in many areas, like new winemaking techniques and strong environmental practices. They’re also leaders in the quality of wines they produce. Here to highlight her top picks from across the country is Natalie MacLean who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes. We’re starting on the west coast in British Columbia. What makes Gold Hill Winery a standout? The team at Gold Hill Winery […]
Cheers to Canada! 5 Great Wines and Spirits to Celebrate the Long Weekend
Click on the image above to play the video On CityTV’s Breakfast Television, we chat about terrific Canadian drinks from coast to coast to celebrate Canada Day. Hey Natalie! Hey Meredith and Tracy, great to be back with you! Natalie, before we get started, we hear congratulations are in order. You’ve just been named the 2024 Canadian Wine Champion. Wine Growers Canada, representing 800 wineries across the country, voted to select the individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, commitment and passion for our homegrown industry. I’m proud to be on Team Canada when it comes to wine […]
7 reasons to Drink Canadian Wine
Note: This column also ran in the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette and other Postmedia newspapers across the country. Cheers to Canada Natalie MacLean on why we should toast July 1st with local wines. From coast to coast, more than 700 wineries across this country offer us a taste of home. Yet imports own 70% of our domestic wine market. Why don’t we drink more of our own wines? Three factors stand out. We’re not aware of how much Canadian wine has improved in the last five years, let alone in the 150 years […]
How Wildfires Affect the Taste of Your Wine with Dr. Wes Zandberg
Introduction What are the main causes of wildfires in wine country? Which two weather-based factors are the strongest predictors of the severity of wildfires each season? What impact do wildfires have on the taste of your wine, and why is it difficult to predict whether smoke-exposed grapes will, in fact, produce tainted wine? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with researcher Wes Zandberg. You can find the wines we discussed here. Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at 7 pm eastern on Instagram […]
