cabernet Sauvignon

The noblest red of all keeps its dignity and personality intact wherever it’s planted: colour, structure, complexity and a love of oak.

SANTA RITA RESERVA CABERNET SAUVIGNON LCBO 253872, $14.95

Chile’s Santa Rita always presents such reliable quality. Eight months in French and American oak give subtle hints of cedar and spice to the deep but lively blackcurrant aroma and taste. Everything here is delightfully in sync—soft, velvety tannins, refreshing acidity—and the fruitiness lingers into a long, dry finish. It’s a perfect choice for a simple steak or roast beef dinner.

McGUIGAN BLACK LABEL CABERNET SAUVIGNON LCBO 524355, $10.95

The fashion for very ripe, almost sweet reds reaches Australia with this big guy from the catch-all region of southeastern Australia. A hint of oak shows up as dark chocolate and vanilla aromas and flavours, but this wine is all about the fruit—cherry jam, blackberry and a dash of blackcurrant. Chilling it a little creates a slightly drier, more tannic balance.

SANTA CAROLINA CABERNET SAUVIGNON LCBO 535344, $9.05

Also from Chile, but farther south than Santa Rita, in the Rapel valley, this offering from Santa Carolina is a more straightforward Cabernet Sauvignon. Smooth and dry, it has the aromatic profile of Bordeaux, with bell pepper and graphite woven around the blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Sometimes simplicity itself can seem sophisticated.