LCBO 340380 | 750 mL bottle
$ 9.65

This is what happens when Angela needs help selecting a wine and the wine guy has gone out for a cup of coffee. We had a mismatched dinner beverage. While the pale, almost straw coloured, wine was fresh and citrusy it didn’t hold up well against our Asparagus Marinara. Two Oceans would have been great pre-dinner with a platter of veggies or something else lighter tasting.

Once dinner was finished and the wine was no longer competing (and losing) with the tomato sauce, the flavours came through. The lemon and grapefruit notes were quite bold in this light bodied wine, and it had a zingy finish.
While we felt the wine didn’t quite fit with our meal, we both noticed how appropriate it might be in a wine spritzer. (due to make a comeback any year now…)

3/5

LCBO 82776 | 750 mL bottle
$ 12.15

Sunday Evening: We needed to head to No Frills to pick up some groceries for dinner. Instead of hitting the LCBO at Dundas and Dovercourt, our usual shop, we decided to stop at Wine Rack at the Dufferin Mall because we were already there. We asked the salesperson for a light, fruity to go with our roasted pepper salad and bocconcini and he suggested a few different bottles. We settled on this one, probably because we weren’t really familiar with Gamay grapes.

The wine was a deep garnet colour, almost sepia. It had a nice flowery aroma, which gave way to cherry and vanilla flavours, balanced with light tannin. The finish was slightly spicy, but without the intensity of, say, a Syrah.

As it turned out, the Gamay Noir was a great pair with our simple, light dinner. We were quite happy with the wine, and would recommend it for lighter summer fare, or simply enjoying with a book on the patio in the summer.

4/5

Time to come home to Ontario with a bottle of Cab. Well we think it’s from Ontario, but their website doesn’t offer much info. Doesn’t really matter because this deep plum plum wine is super tasty. Being a naked, or unoaked, wine there was still abundant flavour. Not very tannic with berry notes and possibly a hint of maple? Steve says the blackberry and blackcurrant remind him of homemade jam. Definitely sweet, but not syrupy.

While we didn’t try this wine with any food, we suspect it would pair well with grilled meats (for Steve) and veggies roasted with rosemary (for Angela.) Hopefully we’ll be able to experiment with food sometime soon. Very soon.

4/5

Apparently a common match to spicy Asian cuisine is Gewürztraminer. We were both pleasantly surprised by the light citrus flavours and clean, zesty finish of this Riesling-Gewurzt blend. Angela was sure she could taste apple, but Steve was only certain about the citrus notes, which were not overwhelming.

The wine seemed to accent and support the sweet, savoury, sour, and spicy flavours of the pad Thai. But while it matched the food perfectly, it seemed a bit sweet for drinking on it’s own. With that said, it will definitely be a go-to wine when cooking Thai cuisine.

4/5

$ 8.15

The Douro region in Portugal is the region that gives us Port wine. It also gives us this medium-bodied table wine. Nothing fancy here; just a mild-mannered wine that goes down easy with a long finish.

The flavours here are predominately vanilla and cedar. Angela would like to add that despite the bottle’s indication, there is no coconut flavour to be found. Her palate isn’t very well developed.

Overall, there doesn’t seem to be any distinct character to speak of, but it’s a wine you easily could serve as the house red at a restaurant. We liked it’s simplicity, but it’s simplicity is what will prevent it from achieving greatness. We’d be surprised if anyone said this was their favourite wine.

3/5

This wine comes from the Chieti province of Italy. Apparantly, a “Quartana” is a ceramic drinking vessel, used by farmers and field workers in Abruzzo. Does this mean the workers are getting drunk while they pick grapes? Awesome.

This is a light fruity summer wine, with a light ruby colour, and has strong berry flavor, with a very tannic finish. Being eager beavers, when we first popped the cork and poured a glass, The wine was quite strong, but after half an hour the wine opened up and revealed its true flavour: mild and fruity.

Overall, for the $7.15 price tag, it was a pretty good bargain, and would do well as a table wine at a dinner party, or on Sunday evening watching an old movie on tv. There isn’t anything great to say about this wine, but more importantly, there’s nothing terrible. We will probably get it again, especially if cash is tight.

Cheers.

3/5

“We” is Steve and Angela. We have many years of drinking under our belts and thought it was time to share our inexpertise. Be forewarned, we tend to favour red wines, but will make a concerted effort this summer to try more whites.

The Rating System: Out of 5

1: Not even drinkable. Being cheapskates we didn’t want to pour out the bottle, but felt we had to. We even brushed our teeth and gargled.

2: Able to choke down a glass. Unlikely to buy again.

3: Not bad, not great, but enjoyable enough. Probably will purchase again

4: Pretty darn good. Enjoyed the whole bottle and wanted more. Will definitely get again…maybe even as a gift.

5. WOWZA! We’re sure we won’t hand these out very often. It’ll be the type of wine you don’t want to share because you want it all for yourself. You’ll even want to keep a couple spare bottles hidden around the apartment.

We welcome your comments and suggestions, but hope you remember to not be too critical.

Enjoy!

Angela and Steve