{"id":6450,"date":"2012-01-27T14:07:01","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T14:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/?p=6450"},"modified":"2012-01-28T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2012-01-28T14:07:59","slug":"a-boldly-irreverent-approach-expertly-crafting-a-pleasing-concoction-of-seamless-storytelling-and-voluptuous-food-and-wine-writing-the-globe-and-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/a-boldly-irreverent-approach-expertly-crafting-a-pleasing-concoction-of-seamless-storytelling-and-voluptuous-food-and-wine-writing-the-globe-and-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"A boldly irreverent approach expertly crafting a pleasing concoction of seamless storytelling and voluptuous food and wine writing – The Globe and Mail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Kate Parsons<\/p>\n

In this ambitious and thoroughly entertaining book, Natalie MacLean chronicles her travels to five continents and eight countries in search of quality wines at good prices. Along the way, she meets the quirky personalities behind the wine and picks up a wealth of practical information about where they\u2019re made, what to pair them with and how to find out more on your own.<\/p>\n

Like some of the winemakers profiled, MacLean is a master blender, expertly crafting a pleasing concoction of seamless storytelling, voluptuous food and wine writing and easy-to-use punch lists. This book is also part personal confession for MacLean, though you won\u2019t find her sheepish about anything she\u2019s owning up to.<\/p>\n

Unquenchable<\/strong><\/a> serves up the same infectious enthusiasm for wine as MacLean\u2019s first book, Red, White, and Drunk All Over. But here we see a more confident and boldly irreverent approach, a wine writer and personality who has come into her own. Utterly unapologetic for her \u201cneurotically personal\u201d reactions to wine, she criticizes the male-dominated world of \u201cfancy-pants\u201d wine writing.<\/p>\n

Established wine writers have taken her to task for daring to put pleasure before business, but it\u2019s easy to dismiss them when you\u2019re chuckling at MacLean\u2019s clever humour. A mock \u201cfancy\u201d tasting note for a homemade wine: \u201cUnder an initial layer of rotting roadside tomatoes, I detect nuances of a burning Fiat tire floating on a lake of rancid olive oil. Pair this wine with nasty divorce settlements or grand jury second appeals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly capable of playing the proper wine-writing game, she chooses not to. How lucky for her readers. The wine descriptions in Unquenchable are bursting with sensual pleasure, personal associations and wit, sweeping us up into the pulsating experience of wine.<\/p>\n

A Sicilian nero d\u2019avola \u201cis a heady aroma cloud of blackberries, sage, and dark chocolate. A potent core of dark, fleshy flavours roll over your tongue, finishing with a blast of black raspberries and anise. Dare I liken it to the smouldering, dark bride in The Godfather? Slap me twice if I try to weave The Sopranos into this chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unravelling the equation that equals a bargain wine is no simple task, and occasionally MacLean loses the thread. Not hard to do when visiting Penfolds or dining with the Ferragamo-loafer-clad.<\/p>\n

But the quality of her research inspires trust. Some regions are trying to establish a reputation while others have the advantage of cheap labour. Little-known grape types may be delicious but suffer from a lack of name recognition. Some wines, no matter how well made, just aren\u2019t on consumers\u2019 high-end radar. It\u2019s complicated, but that\u2019s what the book is for.<\/p>\n

MacLean is smitten with wine in the widest sense \u2013 the drink itself, of course, but more importantly the alchemy of people and place that creates wine.<\/p>\n

She talks with big names that many will recognize, treated, for instance, to the philosophizing of Ernie Loosen, of Dr. L Riesling, Charles Back, of Goats do Roam, and Wolf Blass, who alternates between mentioning unmentionables (the wine he likes to call the \u201cleg opener,\u201d for instance) and exclaiming, \u201cWell, don\u2019t bloody write that down!\u201d<\/p>\n

MacLean says nothing is off the record, and I\u2019m inclined to believe her.<\/p>\n

Just as interesting are conversations with lesser-known players, women, in particular. Carmen Stevens, South Africa\u2019s first female winemaker of colour, and Ontario\u2019s own Louise Engel, of Featherstone, provide compelling counterpoints. Engel\u2019s hands-on approach to starling control \u2013 keeping a Harris hawk to scare them off \u2013 brings us back to the nuts and bolts of winemaking that fascinate MacLean.<\/p>\n

Unquenchable will appeal to several audiences. For wine novices, it offers an exciting introduction to eight major wine regions. The wine-savvy will learn of promising, affordable varietals \u2013 insolia from Sicily, touriga nacional from Portugal, torront\u00e9s from Argentina (not to be confused with the Spanish grape of the same name) \u2013 as well as industry trends (port marketed as a cocktail ingredient). Those who simply enjoy good writing will not be disappointed, and the foodie will rush to download the recipes for the meals MacLean describes from her website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

One book can include only so much information and that wine is always changing. I suspect the interplay of printed books and dynamic websites is just getting started. Here, it helps to make a charming book a useful tool as well.<\/p>\n

The bottom line: Buy it, savour it, use it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can read more reviews of my new wine book<\/a> <\/strong>Unquenchable here.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kate Parsons In this ambitious and thoroughly entertaining book, Natalie MacLean chronicles her travels to five continents and eight countries in search of quality wines at good prices. Along the way, she meets the quirky personalities behind the wine and picks up a wealth of practical information about where they\u2019re made, what to pair them with and how to find out more on your own. Like some of the winemakers profiled, MacLean is a master blender, expertly crafting a pleasing concoction of seamless storytelling, voluptuous food and wine writing and easy-to-use punch lists. This book is also part personal […]<\/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":[43,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-unquenchable","category-books-wine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450","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=6450"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6465,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6450\/revisions\/6465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}