To Like, Perchance to Love
When you think about all of the wines and spirits you have enjoyed over the span of your life, there actually have been darn few that stick out in the memory bank. Something may still live on because of…
Author: Tim McNally
Soaking Up Education
The axiom we have all heard since we were 10 years old, or thereabouts, is that learning is a lifetime experience. It never ends. Those of us who have been present for the dawn and unfolding of the Digital Age…
A Drink with History
While other places struggle with definition and innovation, New Orleans revels in identification and rebirth. There is something quite satisfying about being recognized as the first and still the best. That can be applied to any number of culinary and…
A Life Lived in Clutter
How many festivals and new restaurants can you attend and patronize?
Next Up
A look ahead to St. Patrick's Day
Toast of the Town
This mash-up of the hands-down favorite Southern nut, a wildly popular spirit, and blasting out of Carnival traveling headlong into festival season defines where we all happily find ourselves this third month of the year. And don’t look so…
It’s Complicated
Please indulge me for just a bit today. I want to stretch beyond my usual editorial boundaries for this effort. Then afterwards I will bring thoughts to bear that are about adult beverages. To note that New Orleans is not…
King Cake Cocktails
If you are fortunate enough to live within a 100-mile radius of Jackson Square, you, no doubt, have multiple opportunities just about every day to enjoy a cherished and delicious Carnival custom, King Cake. The usual is still the…
King Cake
In February, the rest of America goes into its long winter’s nap with a one-day break for Presidents’ Day. In New Orleans, we will see you that break, and raise you the other 27 days. The entire second month of…
Yes, Try It!
There are a lot of folks out there, and you may be among them, who claim not to like cognac. And there may be a lot of reasons for why these folks (again, maybe you) don’t care for the…
Happy Hour
All there is to sip and savor in New Orleans
about
In New Orleans, when the subject is wine and spirits, it is very difficult to leave Tim McNally out of the discussion. He is considered one of the “go to” resources in the Crescent City for counsel and information about adult beverages and their place in the fabric of life in this great city.
Tim is the Wine and Spirits Editor, columnist and feature writer for New Orleans Magazine; the Wine and Spirits Editor and weekly columnist, Happy Hour, for www.MyNewOrleans.com; creator and editor of his own website, www.winetalknola.com; all in addition to his daily hosting duties on the radio program, The Dine, Wine and Spirits Show, on the air at WGSO – 990AM, every weekday, 3- 5 p.m, and streamed live on www.wgso.com.
Over the years, Tim has proved to be an informed interviewer, putting his guests at ease, and covering tactile and technical information so that even a novice can understand difficult agricultural and production concepts. Tim speaks with winemakers, wine and spirit ambassadors, distillers, authors, people who stage events and festivals, and takes questions from listeners and readers, all seamlessly blended together in a program that is unique in America.
Tim’s love of wine actually came about many years ago from his then wife-to-be, Brenda Maitland, a noted journalist in her own right, and together they have traveled to the major wine producing areas in the US and Europe, seeking first-hand information about beverages that give us all so much pleasure.
They were instrumental in the founding of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, a major national and international well-regarded festival of its type. They both continue to be involved with the planning and staging of this multi-venue, five-day event now over twenty years old.
Tim is also considered one of the foremost professional wine judges in the US, being invited to judge more than 11 wine competitions each year, including the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (the largest competition of American wines in the world, with more than 6,000 entries), the Riverside, CA International Wine Competition, San Francisco International Wine Competition, Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, Indiana International Wine Competition, Sandestin, Florida Wine Festival Competition, the State of Michigan Wine Competition, the U.S. National Wine Competition, and the National Wine Competition of Portugal.
Tim is a guest lecturer to many local wine and dine organizations, and speaks each year to the senior class in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
Staying abreast of the news of the wine and spirits world is a passion for Tim, and he is committed to sharing what he knows with his listeners and readers. “Doing something I love, with products that I truly enjoy, created by interesting people, coupling the experience with culinary excellence, and doing it all in the greatest city in America,” are the words Tim lives by.
It’s a good gig.
