LCBO Sale Pick of the Week: Sept. 25
| We want you to drink only good wine. And to never overpay. Since our kwäf Taste Buds are drinking all the time anyway—we mean, tasting all the time—we’re happy to pick out the super star values and pass them on to you. One good wine at a time, just because we care. Find these wines on sale at the LCBO, and enjoy! Sign up to receive weekly picks. |
Rocca delle Macie 2009 Chianti Riserva (Chianti, Italy)
Sale $14.95, Regular $15.95
Discount (until Oct. 12): $1.00
LCBO # 111641 | 750 mL bottle
Tastes like: A whole lot of red berries and mocha mixed with vanilla, a little oak toast and black licorice and spice.
Pairs with: Red pasta of all stripes, almost anything grilled, pizza.
Good for: Movie night, date night, pizza night.
Drink this: Now.
Alcohol: 13.9%
Why we're drinking this
We’ve reviewed a few Rocca delle Macie wines, and they’ve all been over-performers in their price range. Good value is a hallmark, and we like the packaging too. These are good-looking bottles that you can be proud to have on your table or take to a friend’s house. Rocca is a relatively new operation, started in 1973 by film producer Italo Zingarelli. Son Sergio and his wife Daniela took over in the mid-1980s, and now their own children are involved. They have 200 hectares of vines and olive groves and another 400 hectares to play with. Sure, they ain’t small, but big can be beautiful, and the wines are rock solid.
Tasting note
This wine is designated Chianti DOCG—a top tier of classification and an indication of quality based around strict rules of production. Riserva is aged for at least 24 months in oak by law, and then three months in bottle before it’s released. Possibly Tuscany’s most famous wine region, Chianti DOCG is also one of Europe’s oldest delimited wine zones. What does this mean for the taste? Well, this is predominantly Sangiovese with a touch of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Expect succulent cherry and red berry fruit, a touch of herbal character (leaf, licorice) and some substantial wood structure. You’ll get a whiff of smoke from the oak barrels, and a finish edged with vanilla. This is quite a refined wine, silky, easy to drink. It’s not a complex “look-at-me” cerebral type of wine. Wine geeks may look down their snooty noses at it. But who cares? This is so quaffable you should grab a few and save yourself the price of a Starbucks. Or a salami. You get what we’re saying?
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This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder