A fine wine is “like a sigh”

by Paul Crookall

Initially, one might question interviewing a wine writer for this magazine. But we have had enthusiastic responses to Natalie MacLean's previous contributions and she has just published her first book, Red, White, and Drunk All Over.

As we spoke, Natalie lovingly described how opening, tasting, and luxuriating in a good wine can provide a slow, warming, welcoming passage from the fast pace of work to a more relaxed evening. Unlike the fast hit of vodka or less legal drugs, it is "like the sigh at the end of a long workday that marks the transition into home life.”

The book is not a wine text. Instead, it draws the reader into the stories of people passionate about their business – a joke-cracking hippie who runs Bonny Doon wineries; a 73-year-old Frenchman who cares for each vine as a child, even though many have been in the family several decades longer than he has; and the centuries-old stories of the widows who made champagne.

Natalie came upon her career accidentally when, post-MBA, she was dining at an Italian restaurant. "Would you like to try the brunello?" the owner asked. Thinking it was a regional dish, she said yes. He came back with a bottle. "We were relieved not to have to tackle the wine list," Natalie recounts in her book. "Neither of us knew much more about wine than which fluffy animals on the label we liked best." She describes the wine as "a rich robe of mahogany…the aroma rushed out to meet me, and all the smells that I had ever known fell away. I didn't know how to describe it, but I knew how it made me feel...I felt the fingers of alcoholic warmth relax the muscles at the back of my jaw and curl under my ears. The wine flushed warmth up into my cheeks, down through my shoulders, and across my thighs…A pilot light had been ignited inside me; over time it would grow into the flames of full-blown passion."

What can one do if the ordered wine at a restaurant is not to their liking? It may not be 'bad' or 'corked', but it isn't what they were hoping for.

“Don't be intimidated by sending back a bottle that you don't like. A recognized industry standard is that up to ten percent of wine bottles are 'tainted' – their flavour is off. Or you may not be familiar with the wine you ordered – its not Yellow Tail – and simply may not be enjoying it. At the price you pay in a restaurant, you are entitled to get the wine you want. Restaurants report that less than one percent of wine is returned – so people are clearly drinking bad wine that they are too embarrassed to send back. You can reduce the chances of getting a wine you don't like by consulting with the sommelier or waiter. Let him/her know what kinds of wine you like, maybe suggest a choice of two or three from the list (so she will know what price range you want).”

What are your thoughts on the great cork debate?

“Screw caps have no negative effects on the flavour, and reduce the spoilage from bad corks. Don't be afraid to try them.”

For me, the ideal vacation is to take a golfing holiday to a wine-producing region. But I don't like morning golf, so I do the wineries first. That has an unintended side effect on my game. Do you have any advice?

“Your palate is actually best for wine tasting in the morning. So keep doing that, but learn how to spit rather than guzzle, that way you won't marinate your cortex.”

What should readers who want to learn a little more about wine do?

“Well, reading my book would be a good start. I find many of your readers also are on my website. You can join a local wine club – I meet many public service managers there. Take winery tours. Make notes on wines you have liked, and over time you will notice certain grape types, regions, and producers that you like.”

Natalie MacLean’s book Red, White, and Drunk All Over is widely available. She offers a free online newsletter at www.nataliemaclean.com. Her most recent column in this magazine appeared in Issue 4, 2005, and is available on www.netgov.ca.

Paul Crookall has consulted to the wine industry and written business case studies on the Ontario wine industry.