Time to recommend some wine. I seldom do that in this wine blog because I get easily distracted by other things – like how much money baseball players make each day, how to win the British Open, how to get a Shampoo endorsement, the story of me getting trapped in the internet, and such and such.
Here are the top 9 wines that I buy at my local wine store (LCBO in Ontario). I like them and I keep buying them. For those of you not comfortable with only 9 wines and need a top 10 – well you need therapy but feel free to add your wine in the comments section below.
Sicily Nero D’Avola. At $10 it’s a steal – a steal I say. Look for it in the Italian aisle isle but it’s NOT Italian – it’s Sicilian and it’s delicious. It will remind you of sitting outdoors at a trattoria.
AUSTRALIA Yalumba Y Series Shiraz Viognier - a Shiraz with manly tannins that’s not afraid to cry at a romatic comedy. $15
FRANCE La Vieille Ferme - they don’t make wines from “the Old Farm” like they used to – or do they? Rustic and French. What more could an eonophile want? More Ferme, that’s what they want. $11
FRANCE Bouchard Pere & Fils Macon - Cru Beaujolais for $14 with a great taste of sour cherry. Mmm sour cherry.
SPAIN Hecula Monastrell from Yecla (that really is the name of the region). A great Monastrell at a great price $14. Proving Spain does more than Rioja. This is part of the Vintages Essentials collection which means that it is readily available.
SPAIN Red Guitar - a classic GSM Rhone style blend from Spain at $12. Spain claims to have invented the Guitar and Mouvedre (Monastrell). I believe them because I like them and besides, they won the World Cup so they can lay claim to inventing football for all I care.
Jackson Triggs Meritage – this is a winemakers wine and I think that in Niagara a winemaker that knows how to blend their grapes is priceless. This is a classic blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is my favorite Ontario wine hands down – especially years where the Cab Franc is prominent like in 2007. $13.45
Niagara Strewn Two Vines Riesling-Gewürztraminer. Spice, pear and apple! It’s not bone dry but the spicy and acidic and delicious cold – and I got to say Gewürztraminer again. $12
ITA Mezzomondo Salento -the distinctive brown label looks like it was made on papyrus and hand-drawn by DaVinci. It is a simple wine that I can’t stop drinking (in a good way). Rustic and delicious – what more could you want for under $9.
February 23rd, 2011 at 9:52 am
I’m recommending Angels’ Share shiraz, from the Two Hands winery in Australia. $27 and lots available right now all over Ontario. This one makes dinner guests say “Whoa, that’s good”.
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:51 am
You didn’t include prices on 4 of the 9 wines?
I need prices to help inform my decisions if I want to go “shopping” on the way home.
February 23rd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I corrected that oversight Brad – I forgot that you have an $8 limit per bottle.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Red Guitar a Rhone style blend? I thought it was a Tempranillo (Spanish grape), and a Garnacha blend, (also a Spanish grape from the Aragon region which the French planted in the Rhone region and misspelled “Grenache”). I think that means that every Rhone blend is in the Navarra style. . . or is it a Red Guitar style blend.
Indignant is Spain
Brother in Spain
March 16th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I’ll check out the Macon Beaujolais. The LCBO has very little interesting Beaujolais (compared with,say, its huge list of Valpols), but the Vintages 09 Chiroubles and Fleurie are good examples of a great year — and only 50 cents more than the non-village example. A small gripe — if you search the LCBO website by type, the cru Beaujolais will not come up, because it seems to be a simple word-recognition system, rather than an intelligent typology. This happens all the time — with Cote du Rhone, too. They could do better.
March 16th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Geoffrey,
You do need to go to Vintages for Cru Beaujolais – you can create a nice little collection if you pay attentio the the Vintages releases.