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
Two Broads Ciderworks, Maggie Przybylski + Morgan Murphy, San Luis Obispo
Dr. David Cleveland, Environmental Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara
Hatch Rotisserie + Della‘s owner Maggie Cameron, Paso Robles, California
Mushroom hunter Dennis Sheridan, Los Osos, California
Hearst Castle, Dr. Amy Hart + Tara Stephenson, San Simeon
Village builder Roberto Monge, San Luis Obispo
Wine + food critic Stephen McConnell, Avila Beach, California
SLO Food Systems Coalition, Ellen Burke + Claire Tuohey-Mote, San Luis Obispo
Castoro Cellars + Bethel Rd. Distillery + Whale Rock Music Festival, Paso Robles, California
Home cook Vincent Rodriguez, Hesperia, California
Six Test Kitchen, Ricky Odbert + Matt Corella, Paso Robles, California
Lincoln Market & Deli owners Becky + Mike Hicks, San Luis Obispo, CA
Rancher Elizabeth Poett, “Ranch to Table,” Lompoc, CA
Whiskey & June owner Daniel Green, Atascadero
Farmhouse Corner Market chef/owners Will + Kari Torres, San Luis Obispo
Beda’s Biergarten owner Beda Schmidthues, San Luis Obispo
Lonely Palm Ranch photographer + homesteader, Christa Pfleeger, Arroyo Grande, CA
Filmmakers/photographers Carter + Veronika Hiyama, Sundae Cereal + Datsu Films, Santa Barbara, CA
Certified herbalists Angela-Sarah North + Sadie Rogers, San Luis Obispo, CA
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project, Arcenio Lopez, Santa Maria + Oxnard, CA
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