Wine is one of the easiest places to overspend without realizing it — so much of it is simply overpriced. But summer is here, and there are other things to splash out on. So save money but live well with this shopping list of the LCBO’s best buys. Every one could sell for more, including a 95-point Soave that’s drop-dead delicious.
2023 Vincent de la Remondière Morgon AC, France
Score 96
(Vintages 48638, $22.95)
Cru Beaujolais — wines from the 10 top-ranked communes of Beaujolais — are some of the best bargains in France. They’re identifiable by the label: the commune name often replaces the broader regional designation. Morgon is one such cru. Here, muted aromas nod toward blackberry jam on toast. On the cashmere palate, the pure-fruited centre is imbued with pencil shavings and graphite, dried cherry and damp black earth, mushroom and rose. Then, a peach-pit finish lingers. Selling for half of what it’s worth, this is a must-buy. (13% alc., 3g/L sugar)
2023 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais AOP, France
Score 91
(LCBO 212480, $20.20)
If the cru Beaujolais above isn’t available, look for this label. Retasting the 2023 confirms how well it suits summer. Light and crisp, fruit-driven and friendly, the fragrance is a crush of height-of-summer berries. Then a juicy, refreshing flood of flavour follows, tasting like Grandma’s bumbleberry pie in a glass, though not as sweet. Expect this to be the first bottle empty on the table. Pour it with everything from mid-week meat loaf to cedar plank salmon on the weekend when friends come around. (13% alc., 2 g/L sugar)
2023 Smiley Merlot Vin de France
Score 93
(LCBO 48399, $16.95)
Tasted blind, you’d swear this was Californian. But it’s not. It’s from France — and brand new to Ontario. The label is a big, orange, grinning emoji, and the wine delivers on that promise. In the glass, the deep, dark colour leads to a sweet-fruited, palate-drenching flood of black cherries dunked in chocolate. The texture is supple, with a touch of licorice root on the finish. This happy red is a sunny crowd-pleaser for backyard barbecue season, with alcohol low enough to keep the afternoon going. (12.5% alc., 10 g/L sugar)
2024 José Maria da Fonseca Waterdog Red, Vinho Regional Lisboa, Portugal
Score 91
(LCBO 19452, $13.05)
Portuguese table wine can offer real value, and this bottle is a prime example. Ripe, smooth and full of smoky-lush fruit, it draws you in with a heady nose of cigar box and toasted hazelnut along with muddled blackberries and cherry-vanilla. The entry is rich and generous — a velvety press of roasted dark berries and plum purée threaded with blueberry tart, almond, tobacco and blood orange before tapering to a pink peppercorn finish. A steal at $13. Pour it with sweet sausages. (13% alc., 6 g/L sugar)
(Vintages Essential 424507, $29.95 till July 19, reg. 31.95)
This local Chardonnay drinks like a $50 white. It was recommended in June, but now it’s on sale — so deserves to be top of mind. Each sip starts with the sinuous scent of apples dipped in butterscotch with an orange zest top-note. On the palate, the wine is pure silk, cool and glossy with just the right amount of tension. Flavours flit from pear and apple to cashew nut and lemon before finishing with salted toffee. This bottle is a special night waiting to happen. (13% alc., 3 g/L sugar)
2024 Tenuta Santa Maria di Gaetano Bertani “Lepiga” Soave DOC, Veneto, Italy
Score 95
(Vintages 44319, $16.95)
Despite the price, this bottle tastes expensive. It has all the hallmarks of fine wine: complexity, concentration and length. The scent alludes to pomelo and melon, marzipan and honeysuckle. Then, it sweeps in tasting luminous and compact — a cool slip of sliced-pear-like vinosity that slides in and fans out with traces of bitter almond, wet stone, toasted vanilla and bay leaf while remaining shimmeringly fresh and crisp. Made from hand-harvested, low-yielding Garganega vines, this bottle is stellar. Stock up. It will sell out quickly. (12.5% alc., 4 g/L sugar)
