Introduction
What would it be like to visit the most gorgeous wine regions around the world, and get paid to do it? How does the fast-paced schedule of a wine and travel writer impact physical and mental health? How can you pair sweet desserts with wine? What specific impact does sweetness in food have on wines?
In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with New York wine and spirits journalist, Céline Bossart.
You can find the wines we discussed here.
Watch Party
Join me for the debut Watch Party of the video of this conversation that I’ll be live-streaming for the very first time on Zoom on Wednesday, July 14th at 7 pm eastern.
You can save your spot for free right here. I’ll be jumping into the comments as we watch it together so that I can answer your questions in real-time.
I want to hear from you! What’s your opinion of what we’re discussing? What takeaways or tips do you love most from this chat? What questions do you have that we didn’t answer?
Highlights
- What’s it like to visit exciting new destinations around the world on press trips?
- How does the fast-paced schedule of a wine and travel writer impact your physical and mental health?
- What was Céline’s best wine-related travel experience?
- How can you improve your wine tasting skills?
- What rule of thumb should you keep in mind when it comes to wine advice?
- How can you pair sweet desserts with wine?
- Why does Céline like to play around with liqueurs?
- What would Céline be doing if she wasn’t in the wine and spirits industry?
Key Takeaways
- I loved listening to Céline’s stories about traveling to the most gorgeous wine regions around the world. She was so open both about the perks and the challenges of her life, particularly when it comes to physical and mental health.
- She had some great tips on pairing desserts with wine, based on the drying effect that sweetness in food has on wine.
- I also enjoyed her tasting tips including not making swirling wine a full-bodied motion.
Start The Conversation: Click Below to Share These Wine Tips
About Céline Bossart
Céline Bossart is a New York-based freelance writer, editor, photographer, and digital media specialist in the wine and spirits spaces, and particularly their socio-political dynamics. She’s been published in Eater, Wine Enthusiast, Billboard, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, and many more. In her spare time, Céline enjoys drinking wine and binge-watching true crime shows.
Resources
- Connect with Céline Bossart
- A Balanced Glass
- Unreserved Wine Talk | Episode 135: Wines from Jon Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Kendall Jenner with Celine Bossart
- My Books:
- Unreserved Wine Talk | Episode 52: Visiting Burgundy and Tasting Barolo with Matt Cauz
- My new class The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner And How To Fix Them Forever
Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video
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Thirsty for more?
- Sign up for my free online wine video class where I’ll walk you through The 5 Wine & Food Pairing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Dinner (and how to fix them forever!)
- You’ll find my books here, including Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines and Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.
- The new audio edition of Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is now available on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and other country-specific Amazon sites; iTunes.ca, iTunes.com and other country-specific iTunes sites; Audible.ca and Audible.com.
Transcript
Céline Bossart 0:00
I have had the good fortune to go all over the world and experience some incredible things that I would never have otherwise. Press trips can sometimes be very jam packed with scheduling and that makes it difficult to get your work done. I will get up at five o’clock in the morning with severe jetlag and be like, okay, I need to file this story, or I need to knock out 30 emails right now. Wherever I can find Wi Fi and at least a 10 minute chunk of time I’m working. So this trip was awesome in the sense that the only things that we had on the schedule were tastings in the evening, because during the day we were sailing. I would get up early, work for a couple of hours and by noon I was out in the sun, on the other side of the boat, living my best life.
Natalie MacLean 0:43
That sounds glorious! What kind of wines were you tasting? Croatia’s got a long tradition of winemaking.
Céline Bossart 0:48
I remember tasting lots of indigenous varietals. The one that sticks out in my mind is Plavac Mali.
Natalie MacLean 1:01
Do you have a thirst to learn about wine? Do you love stories about wonderfully obsessive people, hauntingly beautiful places and amusingly awkward social situations? Well that’s the blend here on the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast. I’m your host, Natalie MacLean and each week, I share with you unfiltered conversations with celebrities in the wine world, as well as confessions from my own tipsy journey as I write my third book on this subject. I’m so glad you’re here. Now pass me that bottle please. And let’s get started.
Welcome to Episode 136. What would it be like to visit the most gorgeous wine regions around the world and get paid to do it? How does the fast-paced schedule of a wine and travel writer impact physical and mental health? How can you pair sweet desserts with wine? And what specific impact does sweetness in food have on wine? You’ll get those answers and more tips in part two of my conversation with New York Wine and Spirits journalist Céline Bossart. You don’t need to have listened to part one from last week, but I hope you’ll go back and take a listen if you missed it, after you finish this one. In the show notes, you’ll find a full transcript of our conversation, links to both of my books, how you can join me for a free online wine and food pairing class and where you can find me on Zoom, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live video every Wednesday at 7pm, including this evening. That’s all in the show notes at Nataliemaclean.com/136.
Now, on a personal note, before we dive into the show, National Public Radio, NPR, reported recently that women have closed the gender gap in alcohol consumption, binge drinking and alcohol abuse. It noted that studies have found that women are more likely to drink wine to cope than men are. And there’s concern that COVID may have made this worse. This worries me. Now that we’re finally getting closer to targeted vaccination rates and perhaps a return to a fuller life I’m re-examining my own wine consumption. It’s so easy to slide down that slope of another glass of Rosé while watching the season finale of the Handmaid’s Tale. There was nothing else to do, right? But that’s an excuse. And as we start to open up as a community, I’m trying to be more open and honest with myself and my own habits. How about you? Let me know. Okay, on with the show.
Natalie MacLean 4:01
So you had another experience on the Dalmatian coast, I think a calmer water experience.
Céline Bossart 4:07
This was one of the best trips I’ve ever had in my life. It was also a work trip. I’m very, very, very fortunate to be able to do things like this for my job, obviously, the past year, not so much. But like, over my years as journalist, I want to say it’s been almost a decade now, I have had the good fortune to go all over the world and experience some incredible things that I would never have otherwise. And so this was one of those things. It was more of a travel story, but it was wine themed, so we were, so it was me and I think two other journalists and the publicist and then our captain. He was a young guy, he was around our age and we just had so much fun and we essentially just spent a week, it was so chill like press trips can sometimes be very jam packed with scheduling and so that makes it kind of difficult to get your work done. And you know, on these trips, we are working like, I will work on the plane, I will get up at five o’clock in the morning with severe jetlag, and be like, okay, I need to file this story, or I need to knock out 30 emails right now. Wherever I can find Wi Fi and at least a 10 minute chunk of time I’m working. So this trip was awesome in the sense that the only things that we had on the schedule, were like tastings in the evening, because during the day we were sailing. So I would get up early, I would have some coffee, you know, on the deck, and there was Wi Fi on the boat, which was like a godsend. And so I would work for a couple of hours. And it was so peaceful. I was the only one awake except the captain. And you know, it was just me and him. And I was like, typing away. And then by noon, I was out in the sun on the other side of the boat, just like living my best life.
Natalie MacLean 5:55
Oh, that sounds glorious. What kind of wines were you tasting? I mean, Croatia’s kind of what’s old is new again, coming back. It’s got a long tradition of winemaking. But what kind of wines were you tasting there?
Céline Bossart 6:08
I remember tasting lots of indigenous varietals. The one that sticks out in my mind is, and I don’t know if I’m pronouncing this correctly, Plavac Mali. And the wines were really good and we probably had a bit too much of it. But we would also just like pick up a couple of bottles, which were really affordable, and have them on the boat. And inevitably, after a long day of well, a short day of working and a long day of just lounging in the sun and talking and taking pictures and swimming, etc. would get into the wines.
Natalie MacLean 6:42
Lovely. And do you remember any particular Croatian dishes that were paired with the wines? Probably a lot of seafood.
Céline Bossart 6:52
I really don’t, yeah, there was a lot of seafood. This was a couple years ago. My memory is not great from that time
Natalie MacLean 6:57
But wine kind of erases a lot of things over time, too.
Céline Bossart 7:01
Yeah, well, there’s that and also, like, I think we’ve all had to slow down over the course of the pandemic. And so, in retrospect, I’m like, I was so frazzled for years. I could barely keep anything straight. It was like, go go go. You know, I remember one time I was in the Catskills. I was in the Catskills for a photo shoot. And I had to go directly from the Catskills to JFK to fly to Morocco for like two nights for another story. And then from Morocco, I think I flew somewhere else in a completely different time zone. And then I finally went home. So it was things like that. Like, I remember also, I was in Australia, I was in New South Wales for a conference a wine conference. And obviously, that’s a very long flight. And it took me a while to get adjusted. I like to think I’ve got beating the jetlag, like down to a science, but that one was kind of hard for me to adjust. And then I remember once that trip was over, I flew directly to Park City, Utah for a whiskey event.
Natalie MacLean 7:59
Wow! Did you have any coping strategies? Like how did you stay well enough to keep working, especially with that pace and the travel? That’s a great question.
Céline Bossart 8:09
That’s a great question. I really was not okay, during that time. And you know, not to overshare, but like, because we’ve been stuck at home, like really being forced to be introspective and reflect on things and we have time to do things that we maybe didn’t have time to do before, I finally was able to start going to therapy and especially because everything became available virtually. I’m completely open about this. And feel free to cut me off. If it’s just like you don’t want to talk about it
Natalie MacLean 8:41
No, no, I to do therapy as well. Online. Thank God, it’s available.
Céline Bossart 8:46
Yeah, absolutely. And especially with my dad passing away at the beginning of he passed away last April. So that was right in the beginning of everything is Coronavirus, right. I was just like, I was just a mess. And yeah, it was also a bit of a shock going from travelling 40 to 45 weeks out of the year for several years straight and finally, just being forced to stop and take a step back and like be in one place. My mom finally just pushed, I had known that I needed to maybe like talk to someone for years, but my mom was like, you need to talk to someone right now because I’m worried about you. And so yeah, so now I’m on antidepressants, and I feel way better, and I work better, I remember things better, I feel more motivated to just be more productive as a human being, even before all this because I was so I was also so physically tired all the time.
Natalie MacLean 9:41
You must have been; it’s a tax on the body, the travel the alcohol, everything.
Céline Bossart 9:49
Yeah. Yeah. And so I’ve never been one to drink myself into oblivion, which is good. So I’ve always been kind of mindful of my consumption but even still, you know, it was so hard to just function, it was so hard to get up in the morning, like, I would wake up in the mornings so physically exhausted that it hurt to breathe. And like, well, you know, on trips like the Australia Park City one, I remember just being like, I am so tired my face, like my face hurts and I feel like I’m not in my body. So that made for some awkward moments, because I’m like, I don’t actually know what I’m saying right now. So it was really difficult. And it wasn’t at all because of the wine, it was because I was not taking care of myself. So yeah, I think everyone should be in therapy, you know, because at a certain point, you start to feel like, this is just who I am. This is how I feel every day. You don’t necessarily pick up on the fact that, you know, it’s not necessarily normal. By definition, you know,
Natalie MacLean 10:50
I hear you. I hear you. And I think it’s endemic to the wine and spirits industry. I mean, you’ve talked about that in other places or written about it. I think people don’t take care of themselves. I think we’re in this sort of fun hospitality and everything’s a party until it isn’t. I don’t think it gets talked about enough.
Céline Bossart 11:10
Right. You know, and mental health has been a big conversation lately, especially again, since, you know, we’ve all been stuck at home and so I’m glad. I also think so I’m part of the millennial generation and I think that we are very, very open about mental health. And so I think maybe other generations think we’re just like, a bad batch, maybe not that having mental health issues is bad, it’s just a reality. Because we’re so open about it. And so like, ha-ha, like, go to therapy. And so like, it’s not a thing that we’re ashamed about, I mean, generally speaking. Like we’re trying to take the stigma away from getting the help that you need. So there is a lot of conversation around that
Natalie MacLean 12:00
You’ve written too about Cathy Huyghe, am I pronouncing her name correctly, and Rebecca Hopkins, they’ve started sort of a wellness group in in the wine world that is trying to incorporate more balance and talk about those issues. What did you discover in talking to them and writing about them?
Céline Bossart 12:20
They’re doing great things for the industry, I think, you know, because they’re pretty much exclusively focused on wellness for people in the hospitality industry, particularly wine people. I think it’s just, it’s really good, that there’s a defined community that people can be as involved in or as, you know, just stay in the periphery if they want to. There’s a weekly newsletter, and I know, they used to do a lot of events, and they have a lot of discussions. And I think it’s just a really healthy environment for people to sort of dip their toes in or dive in fully if they need a place to sort of explore or talk about mental health and physical health and how those two kind of intertwine.
Natalie MacLean 13:01
That’s true. I think it’s called A Balanced Glass, I believe, abalancedglass.com, if folks are looking for that, because they, I think some of their tips too, are great for those outside the wine industry who just love wine, one, enjoy it, but also want to make sure they’re just staying in touch with other aspects of wellness, because they you know, they talk about yoga and meditation then, you know, wine in moderation, that sort of thing, as well. I admire what they’re doing.
Céline Bossart 13:27
Yeah, they’re doing good things.
Natalie MacLean 13:29
Absolutely. So I mean, you’ve had so many great experiences. Is there another one that occurs to you, that’s kind of been the highlight of your career so far?
Céline Bossart 13:39
The highlight of my career is hard to choose. But the best, like wine related travel experience I’ve ever had, and it will always be my favourite is the two times that I was able to hike the Camino de Santiago with my dad. I’m not going to cry. It’s in Spain. Well, the Santiago de Compostela, which is like the end point, the main end point, I should say. There are trails that go all through Europe and beyond and people just walk or bike, hundreds and hundreds of miles to get to Santiago de Compostela. It’s a historic pilgrimage. It’s a biblical pilgrimage. And my dad wasn’t religious, but he somehow came upon this hike. I think actually, it was, I think she had heard about it from that movie The Way, with Martin Sheen, not Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez. It was Martin Sheen (directed by Emilio Estevez who also had a part)
Natalie MacLean 14:45
One iis father of the other one or whatever. Anyway, one of those guys.
Céline Bossart 14:52
Yeah. And so he was like, I have to do this. And that’s just who he was. You know he also travelled for a living so I have kind of followed in his footsteps. And he, again, like he and I shared a real love of wine. He’s the French parent, my mom’s American. And so he did the Camino a couple times by himself, and he was just hooked. And so finally he convinced me and my sister to come with him. And so my sister and I went with him once for I think it was two weeks and we hiked. I want to say we did almost 200 miles. And then the second time, he and I did, I think it was a bit longer actually, I think it was just over 200 miles on foot. We started, I don’t remember where we started. It was somewhere in Spain, and we walked through Galicia and we had great wine every night. You know, we tasted wine at a winery and like, every night, we would have something fun to drink with our dinner. And so wine was just sort of like an ancillary part of this bigger thing that we were doing. But those are some of the most important memories that I will always, always treasure for the rest of my life.
Natalie MacLean 16:10
Oh, that sounds marvellous. Really, I can just imagine it, the scenery, the walking, and then at night, you’re tired, but you have these great meals, great wine, and of course, your dad, your sister, very personal. Lovely, lovely. Getting back more to the wine as well. What are your favourite tips when it comes to like wine tasting, wine drinking? Like, what are your favourite tips for improving your tasting skills or your appreciation of wine?
Céline Bossart 16:38
So I’ve actually written some guides, they’re two separate guides for liquor.com on how to taste like a pro, no matter what your experience level is (https://www.liquor.com/articles/how-to-taste-liquor/, https://www.liquor.com/articles/how-to-spit-taste-liquor/) . And so, you know, I had basically a panel of experts weigh in on how you can become a good wine taster, even as a beginner. So some of the things that they recommended for the wine story included, like, don’t wear any perfume, because that obviously can affect your senses. Don’t drink anything but water immediately before the tasting. I think a lot of people recommend tasting around like 11am because that’s when your palate is at its peak,
Natalie MacLean 17:20
Oh, it is; a lot of people think it seems a bizarre time to start drinking. But there’s a difference between drinking and tasting. And it’s thinking so.
Céline Bossart 17:29
Yeah, and then I think like, the biggest thing is, so whenever I’m around friends or family, and they’re like, they’ll jokingly be like, Hi, I’m swirling this wine and I’m like, okay, you don’t need to move your whole arm; because the wine, you’ll lose the wine at some point. So you know, it’s all in the wrist. So I think that that is what kind of clicks for some people, you know, it’s not like a full body motion. It’s just like a little flick.
Natalie MacLean 18:02
That’s true. I’ve got to tell my partner Miles, you know, because he does this trying to be fancy. And it’s like,
Céline Bossart 18:07
You’re doing too much work. Like, you’re doing too much work
Natalie MacLean 18:09
That’s right, just the wrist, like the Queen waving. And what do you think is the worst advice people get about wine?
Céline Bossart 18:19
Oh, my God, I could go on about this probably for a long time. But I won’t. I’ll spare you. I cannot stand it when I read these stuffy articles, which happen to be usually written by white men. Uh huh. You know,
Natalie MacLean 18:36
okay,
Céline Bossart 18:36
There’s a connection there. And, like, this advice feels so elitist. And so like, there are certainly you know, guidelines to drinking wine and optimising the experience. But like, there’s nobody who wrote into law, like you cannot drink red wine with cheese. Like, I will drink red wine with cheese, if I please, you know, especially as a French person, like, I felt attacked. So I just like, the advice that is given in sort of an elitist way, and there are so many different pieces of advice that can be delivered that way; nobody should ever make you feel bad about drinking wine the way you want to. And, you know, I’ve changed my views on some things over the years, of course, but like, you know, if your Chardonnay is warm, and it’s a summer day, and you want to, like drink out of, out of an insulated tumbler and put an ice cube in it, like, Who cares? Right? I wouldn’t necessarily do that with like a really expensive Chardonnay, but sure, who cares at the end of the day, so don’t listen to advice if it makes you feel bad.
Natalie MacLean 19:40
That’s good. That’s good for life. Yeah, yeah, just wine. Absolutely. And what are some of the most unusual wine and food pairings you’ve ever tried? You didn’t think they’d work but they actually worked. Or maybe some that didn’t.
Céline Bossart 19:56
Yeah, so generally I keep a really open mind about pairings because sometimes it will just be like, to your point, I’ll just be like, oh, wow, that tastes really awesome together in an unexpected way. Like, it could be just like a very specific cheese, from a very specific producer. And I’ll take a sip of whatever wine I have in my hand, I’m like, wow, just the way they play off of one another is like, and that just happens kind of by chance, sometimes, at least for me. I think a lot of people don’t know that dessert wine is something that you can pair with dessert versus drinking for dessert, or drinking after dinner. Because sweetness and food will you know, it has a drying effect on wines. And so if you pair like a super dry Cab, with, you know, a piece of chocolate cake, you’re not going to be loving life, like so that’s a very mean thing to do to your mouth. Yeah, it’s going to come off as like very acrid and very sort of like, Whoa, what’s going on here? So, you know, like, grab a bottle of like Tawny port and try sipping that with your, like different types of desserts and see what happens. See what you like.
Natalie MacLean 21:04
So what happens with the sweet wine? Does the dessert make the wine taste less sweet? Like even when it’s a Tawny port? What were you finding there?
Céline Bossart 21:13
Well, so because sweetness and food has this drying effect on wines; I think the term they use is hard; like, there’s a hard effect. You know, the drier the wine, like, the more hard it’s going to seem with a sweeter dish. And so, again, like that’s why we wouldn’t pair a super dry red with a really sweet sort of unctous dessert. I feel like this comparison is kind of relevant, but maybe not really. I’m a big fan of taking like a delicious cordial or, you know, like a sweeter wine and just drizzling it over ice cream. Like if you think of super deep, dark, chocolate ice cream and a drizzle of Chambord like, Oh, hello. And so if you think kind of think about it like that, like, okay, Tawny port is rich, viscous, nutty, delicious, usually, and you pair that with something like, like a Crème brûlée, you can kind of see where those notes match up. And how with a dessert like Crème brûlée, which is almost like, it has this distinct taste, but it’s not an overpoweringly distinctive flavour. So it’s not like, you know, it sort of serves as a good blank canvas to something like Tawny port where you can really pick up on those beautiful nuanced notes of all that age. And yeah, now I want Crème brûlée and tawny port too
Natalie MacLean 22:37
Me too, I want the chocolate ice cream. I’m still stuck in the back of the chocolate ice cream shop with the Chambord
Céline Bossart 22:44
I’m a big Chambord fan.
Natalie MacLean 22:45
Oh, is that like a cherry flavoured liqueur? I’m not as deep into spirits as I am to wine.
Céline Bossart 22:50
It’s black raspberry. And it is just like, Okay, I’m not going to, I’m not going to drink a glass of Chambord you know, for fun, but like,
Natalie MacLean 22:57
Right. That just sounds so decadent.
Céline Bossart 23:01
Yeah, so my mom loves Kir Royale and you know, I can appreciate a Kir Royale but I personally prefer instead of the Crème de cassis, I personally prefer using Chambord
Natalie MacLean 23:13
Okay, well, I know what I’m doing tonight. Yeah.
Céline Bossart 23:16
Oh, my God, tell me how you like it.
Natalie MacLean 23:17
I will, I will
Céline Bossart 23:18
On New Year’s Day this year, so you know, we couldn’t really go out, we couldn’t really do anything crazy. And so we just did brunch at home with two of our very close friends. And I was like, You know what, I’m bringing this like random little bottle of Chambord we have and I was very excited because we hadn’t done anything like this for so long. I was like, we can put it in Mimosas, we can try it you know, just with sparkling wine, we can. Bla bla bla bla, we can drizzle it on this, that and the other thing and so I made them a Mimosa with Chambord and I was like, my mind is just blown. Like, the best thing I’ve ever tasted and I will have six of these please.
Natalie MacLean 23:57
Hello. So you’re putting the Chambord in orange juice?
Céline Bossart 24:00
Yeah, orange juice and sparkling wine.
Natalie MacLean 24:03
And Chambord like with the black raspberries. Tiny bit.
Céline Bossart 24:05
Yeah, just a tiny bit.
Natalie MacLean 24:07
And Okay, got it. Oh, that’s interesting
Céline Bossart 24:09
Pretty, sort of like dusky pink colour. And it was objectively just delicious. And it was a crowd pleaser. And like Mimosas, as you know, they’re not the most like, sophisticated drink. Like I know a lot of people turn their nose down at Mimosas, but like, they’re just good to drink. They’re just fun. They taste good.
Natalie MacLean 24:27
So we’ve got Mother’s Day coming up if we want to go traditional and give mom a treat with the Chambord
Céline Bossart 24:34
Yeah, yeah. It’s fun. It’s fun to play around with liqueurs
Natalie MacLean 24:37
Yeah. Fantastic. So what do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t writing about wine spirits? Would you be a writer in another genre or? I guess maybe it’d be the fashion track? I don’t know.
Céline Bossart 24:49
Possibly, I mean. So my degree is in international fashion, marketing and Italian language. So I might be working for an Italian company or publication. I spent some time at GQ in the US. And so, you know, magazine life at Condé Nast was really intense, it was difficult. And that was during like Intern Gate where they were, you know, there was a class action lawsuit when they were, they were treating interns like, you know, it was horrible. So I was an intern and then a freelancer. I don’t know why I stayed on, but it was good experience. But you know, I think that being quite the introduction to fashion media had me a little traumatised, but there is like an allure to it for sure. So maybe I would have ended up at another publication in the fashion world. I also did; I was the production editor at Milk Studios for a short time, which is a big like fashion conglomerate in in New York. And so it’s a huge building, they have studios, it started out as studios. So brands used to come and like do all their shoots at Milk Studios. And then it sort of snowballed into this bigger company that, you know, they have Milk makeup, they have a creative agency, and they have their publication, which is part of the creative agency, Milk.XYZ XYZ is the publication. And so I got to sort of jump back into fashion with that. And it was fine. I mean, it was really intense. Like I was covering Fashion Week. And it was, it was just like, oh my god, like I need Yeah, I need therapy. But I could see myself Yeah, maybe going back to something like that.
Natalie MacLean 26:29
Cool, you’ve packed so much life into your relatively short life Céline. I admire all the adventures and experiences you’ve had. Is there anything that we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention now?
Céline Bossart 26:45
Oh, man. I think we’ve covered a lot in a short period of time. And your questions have been awesome. And that’s that’s just, you know, a testament to you as a host, you’re a great host. But at the end of the day, I think just as a general approach to wine and spirits, it’s supposed to be fun. And if you feel like you’re in a snobby kind of environment, or someone’s giving you sort of like elitist vibes, and making you feel like it’s not fun, like, just remember that you’re supposed to be having fun and not to feel bad about yourself.
Natalie MacLean 27:19
It’s true. That’s true. Wine and life.
Céline Bossart 27:22
You know, if there’s one thing we didn’t cover, it’s the rampant misogyny in the wine spirits world, but that’s something that, you know, there’s a lot to unpack there.
Natalie MacLean 27:32
And so we have to have another conversation about that, because I’m very interested in that as well. But yes, it’s a huge issue. But at least it’s coming to light more and more now with The New York Times exposé and other pieces. So lots to think about,
Céline Bossart 27:48
For sure. But yeah, I mean, that’s breeding grounds for what I’m referring to, people sort of doubting you and your knowledge and your capabilities and from like, an elitist perspective, and it’s not a good feeling. And I personally don’t want to make anyone feel like that. So I try to incorporate that in my writing.
Natalie MacLean 28:04
That’s terrific. And you do.
Céline Bossart 28:06
Thank you.
Natalie MacLean 28:07
Absolutely. All right. So where can we find you online? Where are you most likely to be seen?
Céline Bossart 28:13
So I have a website with all you know, about me and some of my work. And that’s just my name. celinebossart.com. And then on Instagram, which is the social platform that I use the most, I am celineb0ss, but the O is zero.
Natalie MacLean 28:34
Great look for you there. I can’t wait to see your pictures, I can’t wait to see those platform shoes.
Céline Bossart 28:41
Oh, yeah. Yeah, pretty sure that’s on my Instagram. I’ll send it to you.
Natalie MacLean 28:44
Yeah, yeah. I’d love to see them. That’s great Céline. Thank you so much for joining us.
Céline Bossart 28:47
Thank you
Natalie MacLean 28:45
Great stories. Love them and wish you all the best. And we’ll have to chat again, because I’m sure it’ll pack another 20 years into the next 5 at least.
Céline Bossart 28:59
Well hopefully we can get out of here. Get out of Dodge, you know.
Natalie MacLean 29:03
I know. I know. It’s coming I think. I think I’m optimistic. Anyway. Well, thank you so much. I’ll raise my glass to you tonight.
Céline Bossart 29:13
And yeah, let me know how you like Chambord. I’m dying to hear
Natalie MacLean 29:17
I can’t wait. All right. Okay, bye for now Céline
Céline Bossart 29:21
Thank you so much. Have a good day.
Natalie MacLean 29:23
All right, you too
Natalie MacLean 29:29
Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my chat with Céline Bossart. Here are my top takeaways.
Number one, I loved listening to Célines’ stories about travelling to such beautiful wine regions around this planet. She was so open to both about the perks and the challenges of her life, particularly when it comes to physical and mental health.
Two, she had some great tips on pairing desserts with wine based on the drying effect that sweetness in food has on wine.
And three, I also enjoyed her tasting tips, including not making swirling wine a full body motion.
In the shownotes, you’ll find a full transcript of our conversation, links to both of my books, how you can join me in a free online wine and food pairing class and where you can find me on Zoom, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live video every Wednesday at 7pm including tonight. That’s all in the show notes at Nataliemaclean.com/136.
You won’t want to miss next week when we chat with Tanisha Townsend. She’s Chief Wine Officer of the lifestyle agency Girl Meets Glass. She leads wine classes and tours in Paris. She also has great tips on finding the best wine bars in Paris as well as getting the most from your experience in any winebar anywhere.
In the meantime, if you missed Episode 52 go back and take a listen. I chat with fellow podcaster Matt Cauz about visiting Burgundy and tasting Barolo. I’ll share a short clip with you now to whet your appetite.
I’m asking the questions the reader would love to ask but that person is not going to get into see Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. And the only reason by the way, Matt that I would get into Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is that Aubert de Villaine and his like recognise how many readers I bring with me. It’s not me, it’s, it’s the readership that I bring with me. And so I’m trying to ask the questions they’d be dying to ask. And even if they were there, maybe they’d be too embarrassed to ask. So I’m a very, very nosy person, but I’m also very shy. And so writing has given me the cover of being able to ask people things like, well, what is your greatest failure? What did you learn from it? Those kinds of things that can be uncomfortable if you just sort of turned to someone at a dinner party and started down that road.
If you liked this episode, please tell one friend about it this week, especially someone you know who’d be interested in the tips that Céline shared with us. Thank you for taking the time to join me here. I hope something great is in your glass this week. Perhaps a wine that pairs well with a sweet treat.
You don’t want to miss one juicy episode of this podcast, especially the secret full body bonus episodes that I don’t announce on social media. So subscribe for free now at Nataliemaclean.com/subscribe. Meet me here next week. Cheers.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
