LCBO Sale Wine of the Week: September 20
Farm To Table Cabernet Merlot (Victoria, Australia)
Sale $12.80, Regular $14.80
Discount (until October 8): $2.00
LCBO #436964 | 750 mL bottle
Tastes like: Fresh plum and blackberry, spicy cherry and green pepper. Bright, fleshy, complex and very tasty. Soft ripe tannins.
Pairs with: Steak, braised beef, burger with mushrooms and mozzarella, ribs, braised veal shank, prime rib, meatloaf, chili.
Good for: A meaty-slash- beefy dinner where you want a substantial wine but don’t want to raid your prized cellar. Here’s a good wine at a good price.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Drink: Now to 2019.
Why we're drinking this
The Fowles Wine company in Victoria, Australia, has a nice sense of humour. But their wines are not for giggling. From their premium “Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch” Syrah to their cheap and cheerful “Are You Game” reds and whites to their excellent Stone Dwellers sparkling (only $11.95!), they make consistently good, modern-styled wines that do a lovely job of expressing their fruit and restrained winemaking. (Try them all!) They are serious winemakers who don’t take it too seriously.
Tasting note
The Fowles’ “Lunch” and “Game” wines were designed to match with wild game, apparently, so the Fowles family must be avid hunters. The Farm to Table line is also designed for food, specifically farm-raised meat with its softer texture and elevated fat content. This wine does a nice job. The fruit comes from the family’s vineyards in the Strathbogie Ranges near Victoria. It’s a delicious, bright and fruity red with moderate weight and soft ripe tannins. It’s eminently drinkable, with or without food. The oak is noticeable but not too much so, and it helps deliver nice spice complexity, which should marry nicely with beef of all stripes. We don’t say this often, but this is an innovative wine. And bloody good.
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This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder