Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass

Award-winning writer Natalie MacLean sweeps readers behind the scenes of the international wine world, visiting its most evocative places and meeting its most charismatic personalities. Red, White, and Drunk All Over showcases the engaging wit, investigative curiosity, and sharp eye for obsessive passion that has made her free e-newsletter Nat Decants one of the most popular in North America.

Natalie tastes sensuous pinot noir in the ancient cellars of Burgundy while discovering the mysterious tenets of biodynamic viticulture from such colourful characters as the tiny, ferocious Lalou Bize-Leroy, part-owner of France's acclaimed Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. She pulls on sturdy boots to help with the grape harvest at California’s Bonny Doon Vineyards–and gets to the root of the anti-establishment philosophy of owner Randall Grahm, notorious for his experimental wine techniques, love for unfashionable grapes, and fondness for naming his wines “Cardinal Zin,” “Heart Has its Rieslings,” and “Big House Red” (whose grapes are grown just down the road from one of California’s state prisons).

Natalie takes a job as undercover sommelier at a five-star French restaurant, spends a day helping customers in a high-end New York wine shop, wades into a famous feud between Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson, two of the world’s best-known critics and, back home, invites friends over for a casual wine tasting. Along the way she teaches us–painlessly and often hilariously–how to face a telephone directory-sized wine list without fear, what questions to ask to get exactly the wine you are looking, what those scores out of 100 really mean, and how properly to expectorate (it’s best to start out in the shower!)

This wine-soaked blend of Kitchen Confidential and Sideways is a fascinating tour from the grape to the glass that will drive readers to drink. And think. And laugh.

Made another "Week-o-stew" with some '03 Penfolds 407 in it. The wine was reported to me as being "over the hill". It wasn't. It was lovely. Ingredients: One quantity of cheap beef (This used blade), trimmed and cubed - say a kilo 800g of tinned, diced tomatos (preferrably roma) - 2 tins A large (not Lebanese) eggplant, diced as finely as you can be bothered. A couple of biggish, chopped carrots Half a bunch of Celery, chopped Some stock (or water... or water and stock powder/cubes) A couple of onions, diced 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed Oil for shallow-frying (Like olive oil) Method: Brown the meat in a little oil in small batches and set aside Add the onion to the pan with a bit more oil and run it round till it goes translucent. Add the garlic and give it a couple more laps Return the meat to the pan & stir a bit Add the carrot, stir Add the eggplant, stir Add the celery, stir Keep stirring for a bit till it looks like everything's at least warm Throw-in the tomatoes and top-up with stock to cover, stirring Bring to boil, reduce and simmer for ~10 mins Put into a baking pan and cover with a lid or aluminium foil and put in the oven for an hour Remove lid/foil, stir and replace in oven for another hour (without covering) Depending on the type, age and preparation of your meat, you may need one or two more hours cooking, possibly topping-up with more liquid/stock and/or covering. Test a piece and do the tenderness/hunger tradeoff calculation in your head. Bonus points: Dust the meat with flour, salt and pepper before frying. This is easily done by tossing about 1/4 of a cup of plain flour with some salt and freshly ground pepper in a plastic shopping bag (Make sure there are no holes - especially at the seams), throwing some meat cubes in, inflating the bag, pinching the neck in your hand to seal and shaking it about like some dadaist pinata. Remove meat pieces, tapping-off excess flour into the bag before frying Ad 2-3 bay leaves to the stew and remove when you serve (if you can find 'em again). Put in a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and/or half a cup of red wine (Doesn't have to be 407... really) just before you cover it & bake.

Serves about 4 4lb Chuck Roast Kosher salt Pepper Dried Rosemary Olive Oil 1 lb pearl onions, ends chopped off and skin removed 1 c red wine 1 c chicken or beef broth 3 carrots peeled and cut into inch chunks 2 lbs red potatoes washed and quartered (skins on) About 12 medium sized shiitake mushrooms quartered 3 Roma tomatoes cut in half and then quarters (I didn't peel them but you could) 1-2 heads of garlic peeled Bay leaf Couple sprigs of fresh herbs (I used fresh rosemary and thyme) Sauce 1 c red wine 2 tbs butter 2 cloves garlic minced Fresh parsley for garnish Remove any ties from the roast and season on all sides with salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Heat skillet on med/high heat and sear all sides of the meat. Set aside on a plate. (Note: for a thicker sauce, you might opt to lightly dust the roast with flour before browning) Saute onions in same pan. Pour wine and stock into pan and deglaze. Pour liquid and onions into bottom of crock pot (my pot is 7qt and there was more than enough room.) Add in carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaf. Place meat on top. (note: it’s been suggested to me that it’s best to add the mushrooms later, but the shiitakes seem to hold up pretty well to long cooking. If you are substituting for crimini or button, you may wish to add them when you have only an hour or two left of cooking.) Cook on high for 1 hour. Cook on low for at least 6 hours (longer is great). Open lid and add in sprigs of fresh herbs and cook for another hour. Move meat to a plate and cover with foil. Remove veggies with a slotted spoon and place in serving dish. Move all remaining liquid to a sauce pan. Add wine, butter and garlic and cook down until reduced by at least half, if not more. You want it to thicken a little. Taste and season if necessary with salt and pepper. Serve over rice, or as I have done, over pearl barley and garnish with fresh flat and/or curly leaf parsley

This is an invaluable introduction to red wine that will give you the information to approach any bottle with total confidence. The enormous choice of bottles on the supermarket or off-licence shelf may seem daunting at first, but with this little book you will soon pick up the basic facts and be on your way to an in-depth knowledge of the wonderful world of red wine. Jonathan Ray considers all the important grape varieties - from Cabernet Sauvignon to Merlot, and from Nebbiolo to Zinfandel - describing their character, quirks and qualities. He also reveals the secrets of deciphering wine labels and explains the best ways to store, serve and taste wine.