LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2020

Big red treats— for a splurge or a gift Amarone is one of Italy’s cult wines: pressed from dried grapes, fully fermented, it is rich, dry and profound. Bordeaux needs no introduction as perhaps the world’s most famous wine region.

Amarone Good

Villa Annaberta Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore ( LCBO 378091, $18.35). Think of it as a proto-amarone—wine made from the same grape varieties, then refermented over amarone pomace. The result is rich and smooth—ripe rather than sweet—with layers of cherry jam, fig and cedar— wonderful with game meats. Better Negrar Amarone Classico DOCG ( LCBO 44784, $30.10). This muscular favourite has everything you want in an amarone. There’s power, balance and an endless progression of (seasonally appropriate) flavours from figs and dates to plum jam and spiced cherry, oak and tobacco. Best Tedeschi Amarone della Valpolicella ( VINTAGES 433417, $44.95). Here’s a magnificent wine, packed with exotic notes of conifer, green herbs, leather and smoke amidst all the ripe, raisined black fruit. At 16.5% ABV (alcohol by volume), it’s made for contemplative sipping, preferably with a hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Château Timberlay Bordeaux Supérieur AOC ( LCBO 30072, $17.95). It seems a bit old-school to decant a wine two hours before dinner but this tangy, sturdy Bordeaux Supérieur benefits. Black fruit emerges, well integrated with oaky spice, and tannins are soothed. Better Château Pey La Tour Réserve du Château ( VINTAGES 349308, $21.95, Nov 14 release). Some Bordeaux can seem a bit austere; not this one, from the Entre-Deux-Mers area! Power and elegance are beautifully balanced; dark chocolate lurks beneath the ripe berry flavours. If you want to show someone what good Bordeaux is like, here’s your wine. Best Château Pipeau Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ( VINTAGES ESSENTIALS 302018, $42.95). This Saint-Emilion Grand Cru—90 percent Merlot and built to last—is the real deal. There’s great length, just enough acidity, lots of intense black fruit and oak flavours, all swathed in a velvet tannin cloak that opens when you taste it with roast lamb. Bordeaux Good

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