LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2015

SEASONAL  BEST OF 2015

Santa Carolina Chardonnay Reserva LCBO 304022, $11.95

best-value AVAILABLE WINES

one of the

Back in our Winter 2015 issue, we paired this luxe Chilean Chardonnay with a mushroom and Gruyère frittata—a match that turned out partic- ularly well! This is a grown-up Chard’, ripe, com- plex and silky smooth with an oaky nose of hazel- nuts, melon and tropical custard apple. And yet those cool vineyards in the Casablanca Valley also provide a balancing acidity that stops the wine from seeming unwieldy. And check out the price—it’s one of the best-value wines available.

Catena Cabernet Sauvignon VINTAGES ESSENTIALS 985002, $19.95

Nicolas Catena, the great pioneer of high-altitude grape- growing in the Argentinean Andes, once explained this wine to me. Vines planted so high bathe in ultra-violet light that seems to accentuate their aromatics as well as nuances of difference between vineyards, some producing sweeter tan- nins, others firmer, some showing a uniquely spicy character or offering notes of eucalyptus or minerality. He balances wines vinified from four such locations in this splendid Cab’, a smooth flavour-mosaic of ripe blackcurrants, red plums and a hint of pepper. Back in our Winter issue, we paired it with Lucy Waverman’s local take on Argentina’s national dish— grass-fed Ontario rib steak with parsley pesto instead of the traditional chimichurri sauce. It’s a match that will thrill your guests in any season of the year.

Primus-Zitsa White LCBO 395962, $12.65

I love coming across a wine made from a grape I’ve never met before. Debina grows in just six villages in Greece’s northwestern Zitsa region— nowhere else on Earth—and it makes delectable wine. Medium-bodied and intensely flavourful, with a matching bouquet of pear, yellow apple and pine nuts, this version from Domaine Glina- vos is the ideal white for a lunch of cold turkey sandwiches or cauliflower in cheese sauce.

88  FOOD & DRI NK HOLIDAY 2015