TRY THESE DELIGHTFUL WINES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Oh, holy night. You slave all day over the meal, set the table with tender loving care, round up the compulsory friends and family . . . you definitely deserve a decent drop when you sit down to Christmas dinner. None of that Baby Duck business, fruitcake. Here are four table wines to keep things merry and bright, and a decadent dessert wine for a spirited finish.
2015 Domaine Laroche Chablis Saint Martin, Burgundy, France (LCBO 289124 $23.20 in store and online)
This unoaked Chardonnay with a glasslike texture and clean, crisp flavour, is the perfect Christmas pour. Not only does it go well with turkey, but it’s named after the Christian Saint Martin to symbolize sharing and conviviality. Legend has it Saint Martin, a Roman soldier in 316AD, met a beggar during night patrol in France and gave him his cape after splitting it with his sword. Since half his garment was paid by himself and half by the army, the gesture showed total generosity. Monks took Saint Martin’s relics to Chablis in 877, where the crypt still remains.
Score: 90+
2013 Aquinas Pinot Noir, Napa Valley and Sonoma County, California (LCBO 277657 $18.95 in store and online)
Finding a gorgeous Pinot Noir for less than $20 isn’t easy, but here you have it. Pure raspberry and sweet cranberry flavours edged with violet and vanilla cream offer a lush rush of pleasure that’s rich and mouth coating, while retaining the quenching zip for which Pinot Noir is known. Great holiday pour that would not only go well with roast beef, ham or turkey, but is appropriately named for the occasion. Aquinas was, of course, the important Christian theologian and philosopher who spent his life trying to prove the existence of God.
Score: 90
2015 Arterra Chardonnay, VQA Niagara Peninsula, ON ($29.95 at select Wine Rack stores and at greatestatesniagara.com — free shipping on this wine with promo code ARTERRA until Dec. 31.)
If you like gently wooded Chardonnay, you’ll want to grab a bottle of this terrific new wine, just released in November. Inviting aromas of cantaloupe, beeswax, white flowers and vanilla lead to a creamy-fresh attack that tastes refined and sophisticated. Polished flavours of preserved lemon, cool slate and Brazil nut unfurl seamlessly before tapering to a long, grapefruit-zesty finish. With roast turkey? Magic.
Score: 91
2014 Errazuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley, Chile (LCBO 335174 $19.15 in store and online)
If you’re serving a roast of beef or goose, pour this saturated Cabernet Sauvignon that seriously over-delivers. Wafting aromas of dark, spicy fruit and chocolate covered espresso beans draw you in and then the entry is intense and complex with dried herbs, grilled meat and black earth flavours underpinning a sweet berry core. Then, on the finish, notes of tobacco, black pepper, smoke and roasted nuts resonate. Solid crowdpleaser at a reasonable price.
Score: 90
Osborne Santa Maria Cream Sherry, Spain (LCBO 31120 $13.10 in store and online)
Here’s a wine filled with sugar and spice and everything nice. Shining a gorgeous shade of mahogany, each sip is rich with flavours of warm toffee, spiced praline, homemade orange marmalade, cherry pound cake, almond paste, dried figs and dates. This stunningly good bottle would go beautifully with apple pie, plum pudding, or — my favourite — a nibble of blue cheese. Pour this and end the evening with just the right kind of holiday drama.
Score: 93