LCBO Sale Pick of the Week: Aug. 6

Antinori Pèppoli 2012 Chianti Classico (Tuscany, Italy)

Sale $16.95, Regular $19.95
Discount (until August 16): $3.00
LCBO # 606541 | 750 mL bottle

Tastes like: A Chianti should, with juicy cherry and an austere dustiness. This is Old World, baby!
Pairs with: Pizza, red-sauced pasta, most steaks, eggplant Parmigiana. Get a veal sandwich.
Good for: Pizza night, movie night, chill-out night.
Alcohol: 13%
Drink: Now.

Why we're drinking this
Everyone should have Chianti in their lives. While it’s the workhorse wine of Italy — all straw-sheathed bottle jokes aside — it mustn’t be denigrated to plonk status. Chianti is made from Sangiovese, a wonderful grape that only makes the grade in Italy. (Seriously, California, why bother?) You can spend a lot of cash on high-priced Chianti, and some of it would be well worth it. But most of us know it as a solid everyday red wine. Good examples abound at under $20. This one is well price for three bucks off. That’s right where it should be, pricewise. So if you don’t know good-value Chianti, give this one a whirl. Movie night!

Tasting note
This wine is super-dry but nicely balanced. The fruit is ripe and present, getting a boost from five percent each of Merlot and Syrah. This is a polished, easy wine that combines traditional bitter/tart flavours of cherry and cranberry with warmer notes of plum and blackberry. It’s decidedly Chianti with traditional attitude, coming from the higher quality sub-region known as Classico. Medium-weight with zippy acidity and a medium-long finish. It has that lovely savoury quality (I call it dusty) that gives it extra depth and complexity. A nice, versatile wine at a great price.

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Antinori Pèppoli 2012 Chianti Classico (Tuscany, Italy)

This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder