DISH: An 'Unquenchable' pursuit

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

AN ‘UNQUENCHABLE’ PURSUIT

When you think of a sommelier, do you automatically picture a stodgy wine aficionado snootily swirling a glass carrying on about legs, oaks and berry hints? It’s probably an image that also comes to mind when thinking of a wine writer, especially one who has received four James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, whose e-newsletter is read by more than 125,000 people and whose print columns reach 1.5 million readers.

But not so with Natalie MacLean, a certified sommelier for 15 years and the editor of nataliemaclean.com, one of the largest wine websites. She’s also the author of the new book, “Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines.”

“I knew that if I were going to write a book about wine, it had to have entertaining stories,” MacLean told me last week from her home in Ottawa. “That was my No. 1 goal, to entertain people, and when you finish the book, you go, ‘Wow, I learned a lot about wine.’”

MacLean didn’t just travel to find the best, most affordable wines, but to also look behind the bottles.

“There’s quite a story, I think, in the people who make wine,” she shared. “Where did they come from, why did they want to make wine, what’s it like?”

To find out, she visited winemakers in eight regions across the globe, from Sicily to Canada and South Africa to Argentina.

“I believe there’s only so much you can say about wine — it’s red, it’s white, it’s wet, whatever — you can get into the fruit-salad school of description, but you’ll just lose people after the fifth type of berry,” MacLean explained. “Behind every bottle, there is a story. A story about a person and a place.”

In “Unquenchable,” she shares those stories in her affable, conversational tone with nary a pretentious word. In fact, each chapter, which covers three wineries in a particular region, closes with a section called “Field Notes from a Wine Cheapskate.”

“Wine doesn’t have to be expensive to taste great,” MacLean said, summing up the book’s thesis. “There’s a lot of stigma and snobbery associated to wine, and one of the biggies is price, that only expensive wines are good. But there are so many good to great wines available in the liquor store today between $10-$15 that are amazing.”

At first, MacLean thought about writing about the world’s greatest wines, which in turn would also mean the most expensive.

“I thought, ‘Well, all seven of us who would read that book could get it and drink Chateau d’Yquem,’” she stated, citing a pricy wine from the Sauternes, Gironde region in southwestern France. “But I thought that most people like me live on a budget, and the reality is that we want it all: We want great taste, but we don’t want to spend a lot for it, so my quest then became to find the most obsessive-compulsive winemakers in the most intriguing, beautiful settings who make wines that taste twice as expensive as they cost.”

MacLean, who also penned 2006’s “Red, White, and Drunk All Over,” offers a free mobile app, which allows people to snap pictures of bottle bar codes, get tasting notes, search wines and more.

“Most of our wine decisions are made outside the home — we’re either in a liquor store or at a restaurant looking at a list, and I think mobile apps are ideally suited for the wine category,” she said. “There’s been 136,000 downloads, and it’s probably the largest source now of people discovering my website.”

Visit nataliemaclean.com for more info.

CHICKEN CHATTER

Thursday Talks “Beer and Wings” will be held Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Scranton Cultural Center (420 N. Washington Ave., Scranton). The event features takes on wings from Michael Colarusso of Colarusso’s Coal Fired Pizza and Larry Nicholas of Constantino’s Catering, “The Sam Adams Beer Guy” from L.T. Verrastro suggesting pairings, and samples.

A cash-bar cocktail hour begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the box office, Ticketmaster or via 570.344.1111; they are also available at Constantino’s (458 E. Drinker St., Dunmore) or Colarusso’s (1126 Commerce Blvd., Dickson City).

ENTER THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Damenti’s (870 N. Hunter Hwy., Mountain Top) will host a Chinese New Year feast Sunday, Jan. 22 from 4-9 p.m.

The menu features lobster egg roll, shrimp wonton soup, ginger salad, roast pork with noodles, grilled baby bok choy, beef tenderloin cho-cho and more.

Cost is $36.95 per person, call 570.788.2004 for reservations.