![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Halifax-Herald-Picture.jpg\" "\\"Halifax")
<\/a><\/p>\nNatalie MacLean likes to drink wine every day, and she figured the same must be true of her readers.<\/p>\n That was the inspiration for her newest book, Unquenchable<\/strong><\/a>, which describes MacLean\u2019s travels to eight of the world\u2019s winemaking regions and, at the same time, suggests a wine for each night of the week.<\/p>\n “I wanted to have a narrative arc, if you will, to put a fancy term on it, something that would pull you through but also there\u2019s the practical aspect of suggesting a bottle for this evening, for this day of the week,” said MacLean, a Nova Scotia native, in Halifax this week during her cross-country book tour.<\/p>\n \n “There are some wines that make sense if you\u2019ve had a lively weekend \u2014 a nice light German Riesling on a Monday is a relief, low in alcohol but still packed with flavour. Moving toward the weekend, maybe you\u2019re having bigger meals, Friday tends to be a time when you\u2019re going to cook a little longer, and so on.”<\/p>\n MacLean, who\u2019s won numerous awards for her books and her oft-visited website, said it\u2019s never been her goal to write an encyclopedia about wine, choosing instead to focus on the stories of the people in the industry.<\/p>\n For Unquenchable, she toured Germany, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Italy, Portugal, France and the Niagara region. Each chapter concludes with tips on the best value wines in each category, recipes and suggested pairings.<\/p>\n It would be tough to be told she could drink wines from only one of those places, MacLean said, but if she had to, she could do it.<\/p>\n “It would be Niagara,” she said.<\/p>\n “Even though that sounds like it\u2019s pandering, it\u2019s not, because I love Pinot Noir and Niagara makes terrific, edgy Pinot Noir. That\u2019s what I like \u2014I\u2019m a true hedonist who likes all the flavour but not the heavy alcohol and oak and tannin that can make you tire of a wine very quickly. Plus, Pinot goes with so many different foods.”<\/p>\n The countries MacLean visited for Unquenchable are all well known as wine producers, but she thinks the future will be kind to wineries in countries that are not hidebound by years of tradition.<\/p>\n “I think a lot of the former Eastern bloc countries, like Czechoslovakia, Hungary,” she said. “They\u2019re producing terrific wines, we just don\u2019t get a lot of them here. Bulgaria would be another one. Maybe a little farther out, closer to 20 years . . . China is becoming an increasingly big producer of wine.”<\/p>\n MacLean has been writing about wine for more than 10 years and has been gladdened by the fact that people are more often drinking local, and not just because it\u2019s the politically correct thing to do.<\/p>\n “That goes for here in Nova Scotia, with the terrific crisp whites, and especially the bubblies that are being produced lately \u2014 they\u2019re amazing. In Niagara, the Okanagan, a lot of regions across the country, there\u2019s good wine in your own backyard. Also, overall, wine consumption continues to increase, more people are interested in it, which is taking the snobbery out of it because it\u2019s a more democratic drink than it\u2019s ever been. You can learn all about it if you want to, but you don\u2019t have to.”<\/p>\n The question she\u2019s most commonly asked is: “What\u2019s your favourite wine?” To which she replies: “The one someone else pays for.”<\/p>\n But over the next few weeks, she\u2019ll be handing out plenty of advice about what wine to serve with Christmas dinner.<\/p>\n “Pinot Noir works well, but also California Zinfandel is juicy, so if you like a little bit more full-bodied red . . . without drying out tannins \u2014 you don\u2019t want that with turkey, which can be dry. Dry on dry doesn\u2019t work. You want juicy mouth-watering in your wine to moisten out the meat.<\/p>\n “So a California Zinfandel, a Canadian Pinot Noir, a Nova Scotia Baco Noir would also work. But if you\u2019re a white fan: Riesling, L\u2019Acadie Blanc, bubbly would be fun,” said MacLean, who promises that Nova Scotia, and its wines, will play a big part in her next project.<\/p>\n “The next book is all Canada, and I\u2019m going to start here and go across the country. There will be a significant amount about Nova Scotia because, to me, it\u2019s one of the four major wine-producing regions in the country, along with Quebec, Ontario and B.C. The other provinces actually do produce wine, some are fruit based, but we\u2019re represented now in every province by at least a few wineries.”<\/p>\n You can read more reviews of my new wine book<\/a> <\/strong>Unquenchable here.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n