Monthly Picks: January 2013

Welcome to 2013! I hope you and yours enjoyed a fun-filled and certainly, a good wine-filled holiday season. As your pocketbook may be recovering from gift, food and drink purchases, I offer you suggestions from the year's best valued wines for your January consumption.

Chateau Des Charmes 2009 Cabernet-Merlot - $13
An impressive "budget" blend that over-delivers for the price with a nice nose of cassis, blackberry, vanilla spice and oak aromas followed by a medium-bodied, smooth-tannin palate with a good balance of mature dark fruit and savoury herbs'n'spice flavours.
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Hillebrand Winery 2010 Trius Cabernet Franc - $15
The Trius brand from Hillebrand Winery offers impressive value with varietal and blends produced from Niagara Peninsula fruit. The finish is long and balanced with lingering clove spice and a touch of minerality.
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Jackson-Triggs Vintners 2010 Silver Series Viognier - $15
A relatively simple Viognier missing the tropical fruit characters of some of the valley's more complex versions, yet, well balanced with solid pear, apple and peach fruit aromas and pleasant mineral flavours on the chewy, off-dry palate.
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Maison Calvet 2010 Reserve - $16
Not as ripe or juicy as its 2009 predecessor, with more of an emphasis on savoury spice and oak influence, yet the red berry fruit is still front and center.
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Little Straw Vineyards 2011 Tapestry - $17
The aptly named Tapestry, weaves together the varietal characters of Riesling, Auxerrois, Gewurztraminer, Siegerrebe and Schonburger. Easy drinking, to be sure, but with more going on than your average crowd-pleasing, off-dry white blend.
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Arrowleaf Cellars 2010 Pinot Noir - $18 A classic and unpretentious Pinot Noir offering a delicate nose of cherry-cola aromas followed by an easy-drinking, light-bodied palate of bright red fruits, smooth, soft tannins and light forest floor flavours. Supremely well-priced for the quality on offer. Icon Score    - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2013 IconWines.ca