Natalie MacLean’s bestselling book Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is now in paperback. She was named the World’s Best Drink Writer for the articles and wine picks in her free wine newsletter available at www.nataliemaclean.com.  Please welcome Natalie and our first questionnaire.





* Which ingredient(s) do you use the most?

Wine, naturally!


* What’s your favorite cooking smell?

A port reduction sauce


* What food would you prepare to seduce someone?

If you want to seduce someone just share a glass of wine (or three) with your sweetheart. Wine is liquid sensuality: Its heady bouquet stimulates the appetite and its velvet caress soothes that desire. What other drink is described as both ‘voluptuous’ and ‘muscular’? And when you pair wine with the mouth-coating luxury of chocolate, the combination is impossible to resist.

The creamy flavors of chocolate go best with sweet, full-bodied, high-alcohol wines. Here are my top 10 wine and chocolate matches:

  1. Dark Chocolate  and Banyuls, France
  2. Chocolate-Covered Biscotti and Recioto Della Valpolicella, Italy
  3. Chocolate-Orange Cake and Liqueur Muscat, Australia
  4. Chocolate with Nuts and Tawny Port, Portugal
  5. Milk Chocolate and Tokaji, Hungary
  6. Bittersweet Chocolate and Amarone, Italy
  7. Chocolate-Dipped Fruit and  Icewine,  Canada
  8. Chocolate  Ganache Truffles and Sauternes, France
  9. Chocolate  Raspberry Cheesecake and Framboise, California
  10. Chocolate  Hearts with Cream Filling and Cream Sherry, Spain

* What food are you craving right now?

Pinot Noir (grapes in liquid form)


* What is your comfort food?

Can you guess? 🙂

(Image by Wordle)