LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2019

WINE  EVERYDAY SPARKLE

CANADIAN Ontario has the cool climate and miner- ally soil to produce superb Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, so it’s no wonder we also make great bubbly. Build- ing cellars and storing reserve wines from different vintages takes time and money—but now we’re there. CAVE SPRING BLANC DE BLANCS BRUT VQA  VINTAGES 213983, $29.95 Pure Chardonnay (including 40 percent Chardonnay Musqué for fragrance) from Niagara’s limestone-rich Beamsville Bench ages for three years on its yeasty lees. The result is a very clean, crisp, ethereally delicate sparkler with a racy, citrussy acidity—superb on a hot after- noon. Chardonnay has a natural affinity to the taste of corn, so break out the nachos and the salted popcorn too! TAWSE SPARK LIMESTONE RIDGE SPARKLING RIESLING VQA VINTAGES 370361, $20.95 A Riesling lover’s dream come true, this aromatic bubbly comes from a single or- ganic vineyard on Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench. Pop the cork, and the scent of ripe yellow apples floods out of the bottle. Delectable flavours of apple, tangerine and lime hover over a minerally spine. Use it to cut through rich sauces like hollandaise on asparagus.

Watch out for the return of an old style of bubbly called Brut Nature or Zero Dosage. It’s bone dry (drier than Brut) and sommeliers and cocktail makers have welcomed it with open arms. COMING SOON

THE RHUBARBELLINI recipe on page 98 Rhubarb brings such a welcome tang to our longed-for Ontario spring. The first stalks are pale pink and greenhouse- grown with a delicate flavour, enhanced when you poach and purée them. Use the purée and any brut Ontario bubbly to make a local, seasonal version of a Bellini—great for weekend brunch until our first peaches ripen in the summer.

54  FOOD & DRI NK SPRING 2019