Wine writer takes laid-back approach

Natalie MacLean confesses – by way of a gentle critique of her fellow wine writers – that she often gets “the odd impression that (wine) has no alcohol in it.” “My subject,” she merrily admits, describing elite tastings in which she looks around the room only to realize that she’s lustily downed two glasses while her colleagues are decorously sipping their first, “is addictive.”

This and other examples of MacLean’s cheerful style put the lay reader at ease. She visits the pinot noirs of Burgundy at the tony home of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti; the back yards of Santa Cruz, Calif., (the Rhone zone); and the Willy-Wonkaesque president of Bony Doon, Randall Grahm – always projecting her contagious enthusiasm. Everything about wine fascinates her, from the “terroir” in which it grows to the personalities (Robert Parker, Chuck Hayward, Jancis Robinson) who guide and inform our choices. “Red, White, and Drunk All Over” will please the palates of wine lovers everywhere.