When my husband and I quit our jobs to work in vineyards around the world in 2008, we spent six months in Blenheim, New Zealand. After work each day, I’d go to the Blenheim public library to siphon free wifi, but I’d just as often wind up in the stacks picking out books to read. One of those books was Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass by author Natalie MacLean. I loved her humor, her description of how it feels to fall in love with wine, and her honesty about the appeal of a good buzz. Her writing definitely helped inspire me to be a wine writer. Fast forward fourteen years, and guess what? Natalie MacLean reached out to me to be on her podcast, Unreserved Wine Talk, which the New York Times named one of the seven best drinks podcasts to listen to in 2020. We also flipped the script so I could interview her here for CONSUMED. Natalie has a very, very long resume, including four James Beard Awards and the MF.K. Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing from Les Dames d’Escoffier International. Her books have been selected as Amazon’s Best Books of the Year, and she is the wine expert on several Canadian TV and news shows. Did I not mention Natalie is Canadian? Yes. I know this podcast deals in Californians only, but I can include her because she once worked for a company in Silicon Valley. When not working on her next book, Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Depression, and Drinking Too Much, Natalie shares online wine pairing courses and wine reviews at NatalieMaclean.com.
My interview on Natalie's podcast: "Santa Maria BBQ & Wines + Can You Earn a Living as a Wine Writer?"
Website: nataliemaclean.com
Instagram: @nataliemaclean
LEGENDS: Pioneering Rhône varieties and regenerative agriculture with Tablas Creek Vineyard proprietor Jason Haas
LEGENDS: Novo, Luna Red and Robin’s owners Shanny Covey and Robin Covey
Quickie, the delivery app with its wheels on the ground and its mind in the gutter
Composer Brook Munro talks wine and music
Kehoe Carbon Cookware and the legacy of durable heirlooms with Dennis and Kasey Kehoe, Los Osos
Lab-grown meat at the intersection of tech and ethics with Dr. Deb Donig, Cal Poly and UC Berkeley
Food system repair with Shakira Miracle of the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network
My Friend Mike’s Mike Radakovich talks pizza
Hot Vegan Takeout with Matt Martinez of Ziggy’s, SLO and Paso Robles
The Paso Robles Distillery Trail and FarmsteadEd with Lynette Sonne
From sushi to charcuterie with Beerwood’s Jess Saddoff-Bauer and Annie Steinmann
Author Dianne Jacob on the fate of food writing
Happy meals®, soda, Disneyland, and grief with Alexandra Wallace
Pinot noir, baseball, and Armenian roots with winemaker Ryan Deovlet
Bonus episode: Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker Brewing), Max Montgomery (There Does Not Exist) and Jack Dyer (Topa Topa Brewing) at Consumed Live
The Mountain Air owners Josh and Lindsey Haring on camping and cooking
Coffee roasting in Oceano with John Quint of Deltina Coffee Roasters
Teaching Asian cooking with Annie Yu, San Luis Obispo
Chef/owner Rusty Quirk, Linnaea’s Cafe, SLO
Functional nutritional therapy with Stephanie Killen of Sound Body Nutrition, SLO
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