LCBO Sale Pick of the Week: Oct. 23
| 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. |
Francois Labet 2012 Cotes du Rhone ‘Dame Alix' (Rhone, France)
Sale $11.95, Regular $12.95
Discount (until Nov. 9): $1.00
LCBO # 630657 | 750 mL bottle
Tastes like: Spicy cherry-blackberry pie. Seriously.
Pairs with: Meat stew, sausage, brie and leek tart, quail.
Good for: Wednesday night.
Drink this: Now.
Alcohol: 13%
Why we're drinking this
We were weaned on Cote du Rhone. It’s the workhorse of French wines. Rustic is a term often used. Yeah, this is the “Lee jeans” region or France, where they make frickin’ great wines without all the bullshit and upturned noses. Twelve bucks for a solid wine? Yeah. Bring it. Bring a few.
Tasting note
This wine is good. Here’s the deal. You can serve it to people who don’t really care what they’re drinking, and they’ll like it. You can serve it to a snob (don’t tell them it’s cheap) and he or she will like it. This is another under-$15 wine that punches at the $20 level. It’s sippable, with nice blue/black berries, plum and sweet spice. It’s rich, but not unctuous, not cloying. It’s balanced, soft and inviting. It will like food, like burgers, stews, etc. We sometimes say such a wine is “ripe,” which just means that the grapes are obviously mature and were picked at the right time. You’d think this would be the case with all wines, but ’tis not so normal. For $12, this is a really good wine. Quaffable? Yep. A superb deal? Yep again.
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This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder