Wine Situation Final Five

The Wine Situation hosts everyone from winemakers to writers to find out what a person’s situation is…with wine. At the end of each episode, host Ellen Clifford wants to know the basics of her guests’ final thoughts on wine, drink and food. This month, Ellen talks with wine writer Natalie MacLean, author of “Wine Witch on Fire”. QUESTION ONE Ellen: Question number one: whatcha drinking? What are you into these days? Natalie: I happen to have a wine right here, Elle! It’s an orange wine. It’s from Southbrook Vineyards , a biodynamic organic winery in Ontario. The winemaker is Ann Sperling, and she’s a real rock-star winemaker. This one’s made from the Vidal grape, and it’s skin-fermented. Ann Sterling, as I said rockstar winemaker, pioneered the orange wine appellation. It just gives guidelines for what is an orange wine here in Ontario. What I love about this wine is that it’s low in alcohol, but it has these exotic flavors of bergamot, Earl Grey tea and clementine notes. QUESTION TWO Ellen: Question number two: what is a favorite or unusual pairing? Natalie: An unusual pairing would be Rosé and ketchup chips. I know ketchup chips aren’t as widespread in the US. At first, I thought, with a Dry Rosé, I would imagine ketchup, which apparently has in its raw form more salt and sugar by volume than ice cream—I was thinking it would be way too sweet for the wine, but it was brilliant because the ketchup chips, or at least the ones I was munching on, were actually more tomato-y and dry, they didn’t taste sweet, and it was brilliant with a Rosé from Tavel . QUESTION THREE Ellen: Question three: what do you drink when not drinking wine? Natalie: I love tea. I especially like green tea. I like the green tea, though it is not bitter. And it's decaffeinated. Otherwise, I’m climbing the walls with caffeine. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: Question number four: if you made wine, what would you make, and what would you call it? Natalie: Well, in the book, it starts with a wine label because I wanted to put a label on my book because so many labels have been put on me. I thought, ‘I’m creating my own label, and it’s a wine label,’ so I would go with that Domaine MacLean. It would be Pinot Noir because that is the heartbreak grape, and I would make the Pinot in a cool climate, so it could be Carneros , Willamette Valley , Niagara , Burgundy if I could afford that. But I love Pinot because I find that racy, edgy, nervy acidity—it always strikes me as a grape on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And I like that in my grapes and my people. It’s so much more enjoyable. QUESTION FIVE Ellen: Question number five: what’s bringing you joy? Natalie: It’s the reader letters I’m getting. When you share from the heart with vulnerability and put all your words out there, what comes back is surprising: richer, deeper stories and connections. It started with friends and family when I first told them what was going on. We weren’t talking anymore, just about our kids’ soccer lessons or whatever. They told me about times when they had gone through something, and it just took friendship to a deeper level. So now that’s happening on a larger scale with the book because readers are telling me deeply moving personal stories. It just drives me. What we want to do, whether with wine or with writing, is connection. We’re trying to reach out to someone and say, “I see you. I see you struggle. We’re in it together.” That’s what’s making me happy. *** You can find everything Natalie at www.winewitchonfire.com and www.nataliemaclean.com and find Unreserved Wine Talk wherever you find your podcasts. Or email her! natalie@nataliemaclean.com Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Ellie Anest here .