Top ten wines $10 or less right now at the LCBO | The Star

You don’t have to spend a lot to get a great tasting wine. You just need to know which bottle to buy. This column is your shopping list of inexpensive wines that won’t let you down, starting with something new and local.

The NV Golden Coast Smooth White, VQA Ontario (LCBO 17521 $9.95) is a bright, new white that blends Riesling, Vidal, Gewurztraminer, Muscat and Chardonnay to vibrant effect. It’s aromatic with a pretty perfume suggesting white flowers, elderflower and stone fruit. The wine floods in with flavours of the same along with lime, poached pear and orange zest. A touch of sweetness (20g/L) balances the bracing acidity. Score: 90

Golden Coast Smooth White is a limited production wine available in six packs at the LCBO.

For a drier, more subtle expression of white wine, the 2020 Robertson Winery Chenin Blanc from South Africa (LCBO 495507 $9.95) fits the bill. This gorgeous white starts with scents of grapefruit and beeswax before sweeping in with a cool, crisp attack. Flavours flit from sunlit citrus to struck steel with touches of lanolin, sea salt and smoke quietly at play too. And the smokiness lingers on the finish. Score: 93

The same winery makes the outstanding 2020 Robertson Winery Chapel Red Cabernet Merlot Pinotage (LCBO 16361 $9.95), which glides in with a smooth, swirl of jammy fruit that tastes like it’s infused with grill marks. It’s all about dark and robust berry flavour with a touch of char. Score 92

From Italy, the 2019 Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio Terre Siciliane IGT (LCBO 73148 $10.00) deserves mention. This classic refresher tastes clean, crisp and impeccably balanced with sheer flavours of lemon-lime laced with white pepper, wet stones and a whisper of bitter almond. Pinot Grigio lovers with a penchant for dry, stony styles will want to acquaint themselves with the suave Sicilian. Score: 90

Also from Italy comes the 2018 San Marzano Primitivo IGT from Puglia, Italy (LCBO 13494 $8.45), which is a newish listing at the LCBO. It launched in June with a whopping 4,500 cases and 9,000 cases have been sold already — which is 108,000 bottles. It’s the bestselling wine from Puglia at the LCBO and an outstanding buy. Lush blackcurrant and black cherry fruit threaded with earthy, savoury notes of red meat, rubbed oregano, sea salt and black pepper tastes sophisticated and satisfying. This wine gives more concentration, complexity and length than most wines at that price. Score: 93

Portugal is known for terrific value table wines — but you still need to know where to look.

The NV Casal Garcia Vinho Verde DOC (LCBO 530261 $9.95) makes this list with its dry, gently effervescent fruit that calls to mind salted lime. Each sip is beautifully balanced — all polished, pure, and shot through with shimmering acidity. This easy quencher is super food friendly. Score: 90

And the 2018 Lab Vinho Regional Lisboa (LCBO 534586 $9.95) delivers a long, easy lick of dark berry and poached plums underpinned with toasty oak that resonates on the finish. This red is ripe, smooth and full of fruit. And the pooch on the label will appeal to dog lovers. Score: 91

From sunny California, the 2019 Canyon Road Chardonnay (LCBO 552513 $9.95) earns a place on this list with its sun-drenched, toasty-oaked goodness. Saturated and morish flavours of baked apple, praline, butterscotch and vanilla cream cloak the palate. Those who like creamy, wooded Chardonnays will appreciate this buy. But small word of caution, the 2018 didn’t show nearly as well as the 2019. So watch the vintage. Score: 90

From Australia hails the NV Smoky Bay Winery Cabernet Sauvignon (LCBO 553891 $9.95), which launched in Ontario in 2018 and skyrocketed with popularity. It’s now the number one selling Australian wine under $10. It totally overdelivers with its juicy-rich hit of mouthfilling fruit. Think: height of summer berry bowl goodness imbued with blackcurrant liqueur, raspberry jam and a touch of vanilla cream on the finish. Score: 92

Last but not least, the 2019 Toro Bravo Tempranillo/Merlot, DO Valencia, Spain (LCBO 635755 $8.25) is a great buy. This current vintage on shelf is not quite the showstopper the 2017 vintage was when the wine first hit shelves in January 2019. I had awarded that vintage 96 points — the highest score I’d ever given a wine under $10. But the 2019 Toro Bravo Tempranillo/Merlot still offers better value than most wines under $15 let alone under $9.

The 2019 Toro Bravo Tempranillo/Merlot opens with ripe, muddled blackberries on the nose, then fans out with cherries and blackberries, cocoa powder and black earth, figs and tobacco that linger on the finish. It’s still the kind of wine you put on the table and want to keep refilling your glass with all night long. Score: 94

Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Wineries occasionally sponsor segments on her YouTube series yet they have no role in the selection of the wines she chooses to review or her opinions of those wines. Reach her via email: [email protected]

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