LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2025

WINE Sweet Spot

Thanks to top sommeliers calling attention to off-dry wines, the word is finally getting out that some grapes and wine styles come to life with a little hint of natural residual sugar—especially with food!

In France, they’re known as tendré (“tender-dry”) wines; Germans call them halbtrocken (“half dry”) wines. Whatever the name, most cool-climate regions (including Canadian ones) have cherished traditions around making these wines, which feature punchy acidity balanced out with a hint of residual sugar (a natural product of the winemaking process). Off-dry wines often don’t taste overtly sweet on the palate, nor are they the result of any sugar added before bottling. Wine makers simply halt the fermentation a little early, resulting in wines with round texture, food-friendly pairing qualities and sometimes lower levels of alcohol. OFF-DRY WHITES The off-dry approach is used in chilly northern climes to offset acidity in crisp whites, like Niagara’s intensely aromatic Tawse Quarry Road Organic Riesling VQA (VINTAGES ESSENTIALS 198853, $24.95) and the luscious and fruity Pierre Sparr Gewurztraminer (LCBO 373373, $24.95) from France’s Alsace. In Minho, Portugal’s cooler, mari time wine-growing region, winemakers use a similar method to make fresh and light “green wines” such as Aveleda Vinho Verde (LCBO 5322, $12.95), an easy-drinking, food-friendly expression.

BY CHRISTINE SISMONDO ————— PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAYA VISNYEI

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The LCBO’s dot-style shelf tags are a unique way of communicating the perception of sweetness in a wine—how it tastes in your mouth—instead of the old-fashioned approach of stating measured residual sugar levels. This innovative method takes into account acidity and even texture, which play a role in how a wine actually tastes. Look for two or three dots in the Sweetness category when you want to buy off-dry wines.

FOOD STYLING BY LINDSAY GUSCOTT; PROP STYLING BY ANDREA McCRINDLE

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SPRING 2025 ————————