Ep 386: Natalie MacLean -- Author, Wine Reviewer & Podcaster

Natalie MacLean is an accredited sommelier who operates one of the largest wine sites on the web at www.nataliemaclean.com. Natalie's first book Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass and her second book Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bargain Wines were each selected as an Amazon “Best Book of the Year.” She is the wine expert on CTV's The Social, Canada's largest daytime television show, CTV News, and Global Television's Morning Show. She was named the World's Best Drinks Writer at the World Food Media Awards, and has won four James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards. Natalie is an author, online wine course instructor, and wine reviewer. She is a member of the National Capital Sommelier Guild, the Wine Writers Circle, and several French wine societies with complicated and impressive names. Natalie holds an MBA and is a fellow podcast host, with her excellent podcast “Unreserved Wine Talk” (on which I have also been a guest - Ep 50). Being two podcasters, we like to talk!! This is more of a conversation than an interview and we had a great time chatting about a variety of subjects. Here are the show notes: Natalie talks about her journey into the wine world from a live in tech and an MBA to becoming a wine reviewer and writer. She and I discuss the professional challenges that she faced in 2012 and how she didn’t give up and used her positivity and strength to continue being a powerful voice in wine. We chat about the Canadian wine industry Then we get to the main event – bantering about the current trends in the wine industry and what we think about them. Here are the main topics we take on: The natural wine movement/clean wine/raw wine Celebrity wine Alcohol free or low alcohol wine Wine critics and “influencers” Climate change and what it will do to wine Wine v. white claw or spirits, which follows nicely into a conversation about canned and boxed wines and alternative packaging, including the environmental impact of shipping in the wine industry and our hopes for change Orange wines, blue wines A very fun conversation about wine and life. Please check out Natalie’s books:  Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass and her second book Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bargain Wines           _____________________________________________________ Thanks to our sponsors this week: Thanks to YOU! The podcast supporters on Patreon, who are helping us to make the podcast possible and who we give goodies in return for their help! Check it out today: https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople And to sign up for classes, please go to www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes!  Get your copy Wine For Normal People Book today!    Wine Access  Visit: www.wineaccess.com/normal for a special deal on your order! I’m so excited to work with Wine Access and you should definitely try them out. Wine Access is a web site that has exclusive wines that overdeliver for the price (of which they have a range). Wine Access provides extensive tasting notes, stories about the wine and a really cool bottle hanger with pairings, flavor profile, and serving temps. They have REAL brands, REAL people picking the wines, and the deals and service are outstanding. Try their wine club out -- it's one of the best ways to get quality wines you may never have tried!  Check it out today! www.wineaccess.com/normal