A soft and approachable Chablis with a personality of citrus, honey, green apple, anise and mineral. There is great length and just the right amount of acidity which allows it to pair perfectly with double-cream brie or asiago cheeses.
Dark beers aren’t just for winter, especially when it’s a chocolately, 4.7% easy-sipping stout like this one. Aromas of fresh coffee grounds, plum and Tamari dance on a lightly creamy body before finishing on dark chocolate. Fire up the grill because this savoury stout is perfect for grilled salmon or beef burgers.
Campo de Borja is a little-known region south of Rioja that specializes in Garnacha. With this wine I thought I was sampling a Châteauneuf-du-Pape at under $20. The wine had the dense, dark purple-black colour of the southern Rhône, a spicy, herbal, blackberry nose, and it was full and savoury on the palate.
A modest claret at a good price. Deep ruby in colour with a nose of cedar and blackcurrant; medium-bodied, lean and sinewy red currant flavour buoyed up by lively acidity to a firm tannic finish.
Perennial, flagship Riesling sports tropical and stone-fruit notes on the nose. A complex, mouth-filling but still elegant and very focused palate that builds through layers of lemon-lime and peach with firm slate streaks before a persistent and powerful close.
Here’s a Pinot Gris with substance. Straw-coloured with a peach pit and menthol bouquet, it has richly extracted pear and citrus flavours. Crisply dry and well made with a clean, minerally finish.
A great little Spanish quaffer that shows cassis, currants, maraschino cherry and light spices on the nose. It’s bold and ripe on the palate with red and dark fruits and surprising structure for such an affordable wine.