Frugal February

Dear Diary,

Today I did something that I haven't done in a very long time: I circumvented the Vintages section at the LCBO (shocking, I know), and went to the generalist bottles. That's not all. I purchased a bottle of wine for $7.95. Yes, a full 750mL bottle. 

Love,

Alia

There are so many wonderful bottles of wine that constantly grace the shelves of the LCBO. I consider us who live in Ontario very lucky to have the LCBO: I know there's a lot of legalities and annoyances for producers that are associated with a publicly owned liquor store, but overall, I do find the quality and variety of the offerings really good. This is why I usually end up in some degree of a treasure hunt around the Vintages section and fail to ever go beyond it's boarders. I mean, why wouldn't you want to buy the bottles that are only there for a limited amount of time?! Maybe it's the treasurer hunter in me.. But I do believe there is a link between case volumes and quality, so inherently, the limited Vintages cases should prove to be better wine than the ubiquitous wines that grace the generalist section shelves. That being said, sometimes it's nice to have a really uncomplicated wine (to offset the inevitable complications that life brings, of course!)

To the wine: The Vila Regia 2010 is from the Duoro region in Portugal. It's a very decent table wine for $7.95. This wine benefits from being served a bit chilled, so put the bottle in the fridge for about 15 minutes before it's time to enjoy it. Once you've done so.. It's really quite decent. Everything about this wine is fruit: The colour is a really pretty cherry, and the dominant flavours are cherry/strawberry (it's a tad confected, but at this price..). The fruitiness is offset by some nice acidity and a bit of smoke, which makes the wine quite enjoyable. It's a really non-committal, pleasing, weeknight wine when you're not looking for anything too serious-- I know, I'm setting you up really well for the week ahead.

Happy imbibing.

XO
AK