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Natalie MacLean didn’t start out with a love of wine. Meals with her husband, who enjoyed having a bottle of wine with dinner, are where MacLean first discovered wine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say that I didn’t start drinking until I met my husband,\u201d said MacLean. \u201cAnd now that I am writing about wine for a living, I don’t have a reason to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor of a free wine newsletter at www.nataliemaclean.com, MacLean took her love of wine and turned it into a career. Starting off by writing about wine on the Internet, she was picked up by a local food magazine who gave her a regular column.<\/p>\n
Her vacations turned into wine-country adventures as her love of wine grew, and the thought of getting paid to write about wine became less and less outrageous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my first glass of wine, I thought, \u2018This tastes and smells so amazing. I want to learn how to talk about it,’\u201d MacLean said. \u201cEven now, I still describe myself as an enthusiastic amateur, not an expert. I don’t want to preach about wine, I just want to share what I know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Natalie’s suggestions for pairing wine and food this Valentine’s Day.<\/p>\n
Steak<\/p>\n
Steak goes well with a big, hefty red wine. The protein in the meat will \u201cmarry,\u201d or mix with the tannins in the wine and it will make the wine and steak taste richer. Her suggestion: Cabernet Sauvignon<\/p>\n
Chicken<\/p>\n
Chicken is a chameleon dish, and how to match wine with it depends on how it is prepared. Chicken goes well with a lot of white wine, and you can’t go wrong with a nice chardonnay or a pinot grigio. Her suggestion: California Chardonnay<\/p>\n
Fish<\/p>\n
When you have fish, you are dealing with iodine. Even though some foods break the \u201cwine\u201d rules, fish is usually not one of them. For most fish, you need a crisp, light wine. Salmon or tuna, however, are meaty dishes, and with that you could use a pinot noir. Her suggestion: New York Riesling<\/p>\n
Pasta<\/p>\n
Pasta is usually just a vehicle for sauce. If you are eating pasta with a regular tomato sauce, you want a wine to bring out the red-fruit flavors, like nice Chianti. In a situation like this, you can’t go wrong with matching food and wine that both come from the same region. Her suggestion: Chianti<\/p>\n
Pork<\/p>\n
Pork is a meaty dish, and if it’s served with a honey-glaze or a sweet sauce, you want dry white wine or a pinot noir to bring out the fruit flavors that will complement the sweetness of the sauce. Her suggestion: California Zinfandel<\/p>\n
Wine and aphrodisiacs<\/p>\n
* Asparagus + New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: Green foods demand to be paired with green, herbal wines to match the aromas in the wine to the food on the plate.<\/p>\n
* Fresh Fruit + New York Ice Wine: You want a wine to match the sweet, acidic flavors of the fresh fruit you are preparing.<\/p>\n
* Truffles + Pinot Noir: You need a feral wine to compliment the earthy, wild flavors of this fungi.<\/p>\n
* Figs, pomegranates + Vintage \/ Tawny Port: Both of these foods crave a nice port wine to fortify their flavors.<\/p>\n
* Honey + Tokaji Hungarian dessert wine: This sweet dessert wine, with it\u2019s honey and citrus flavors will compliment the honey in any dish perfectly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Natalie MacLean didn’t start out with a love of wine. Meals with her husband, who enjoyed having a bottle of wine with dinner, are where MacLean first discovered wine. \u201cI always say that I didn’t start drinking until I met my husband,\u201d said MacLean. \u201cAnd now that I am writing about wine for a living, I don’t have a reason to stop.\u201d Editor of a free wine newsletter at www.nataliemaclean.com, MacLean took her love of wine and turned it into a career. Starting off by writing about wine on the Internet, she was picked up by a local food magazine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[126,123,124,10,135,125,128,121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wine-beef","category-wine-chicken","category-wine-dessert","category-food-wine-pairing","category-pasta-wine-food-wine-pairing","category-wine-pork","category-wine-seafood","category-wine-vegetables"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13544,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions\/13544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}