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Pick of the week

Familia Zuccardi Fuzion Shiraz Malbec 2007 ($7.45, product No. 83188). A blend of 70-per-cent shiraz and 30-per-cent malbec, the latter the signature red grape of Argentina, it is impressively polished and balanced for the money, full-bodied, brimming with juicy berries.

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Producers of $15 Australian shiraz and $20 California merlot should be afraid of Familia Zuccardi Fuzion Shiraz Malbec 2007 ($7.45, product No. 83188). Very afraid.

Based on quality versus price - admittedly a metric wine consumers with lots of California cabernet and red Bordeaux in their cellars will consider irrelevant - this Argentine red is off the charts. Very off the charts.

If you like modern, fruit-forward reds with substantial body and good balance, the kind of wines most $15 shirazes and $20 merlots are trying to be, I suspect you'll be captivated by Fuzion.

A blend of 70-per-cent shiraz and 30-per-cent malbec, the latter the signature red grape of Argentina, it is impressively polished and balanced for the money, full-bodied, brimming with juicy berries, some charred, espresso notes and good spice on the lively finish.

New to the Ontario market this summer, Fuzion is already a phenomenon in Quebec, where, after its release two years ago, sales at the SAQ reached the stratosphere of 273,243 cases in 2007. (The Quebec price is $8.10.) Many of those cases, I gather, made their way across the Ottawa River from Gatineau to Ontario. When the first Ontario shipment of the wine arrived several weeks ago, much of the inventory was scooped up by knowing Eastern Ontario residents who had been politely coaxing Liquor Control Board of Ontario store managers to carry the wine.

Fuzion is slated for release in New Brunswick in the fall, possibly Nova Scotia as well. As for other provinces, stay tuned.

I don't think I want to know what they pay vineyard workers in Argentina to get this kind of juice out of the earth, crafted into wine and bottled before being sent thousand of kilometres to Canada for less than $8, including all those government penalties on alcohol. I thought there was an oil crisis gripping the planet.

"It's a branded introduction to Argentina," Jose Asensio, Familia Zuccardi's export manager, told me a few weeks ago. Like many in the Argentine wine industry, he's a man of understatement. Zuccardi was started in the 1960s by a concrete magnate, Alberto Zuccardi, with a solid focus on clean, modern flavours, not the passable jug wine that dominated one of the world's biggest wine-producing, and wine-consuming, countries. It now produces 15 million bottles a year, 60 per cent of them destined for export.

After a blistering sellout of well more than 1,000 cases a few weeks ago, a second big Fuzion shipment arrived this week in Ontario and should be making its way into stores starting today. And more is slated to roll out to stores as the month goes on.

The Ontario launch is part of an initiative by the LCBO to broaden its selection of high-value wines. Some of us in the criticism business had complained publicly - and many enterprising readers of this newspaper took the time to write protest letters - about creeping wine prices. The LCBO, to its credit, took notes.

Javier Santos, the LCBO's director of wine, says that, despite the general movement of consumers toward higher-priced wines, the liquor board has sourced 30 new wines under $10 over the past year, encouraged in part by the success of the $9.95-a-bottle Bearfoot line from California. "Some people out there say my middle name is $9.95," he told me.

This is Taste of the Danforth weekend in Toronto, three days billed as North America's premier Greek festival. It reminds me of a very good Greek red I retasted recently. Domaine Hatzimichalis Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 ($16.95, No. 538074) is almost too good for street souvlaki. At 13.5-per-cent alcohol, it's surprisingly ripe, with a smooth texture and hints of juicy blackberry and dark chocolate. It's widely available in Ontario, next to those less expensive and better known Greek wines, like Kouros and Kourtaki.

Wines from superb 2007 Canadian wine harvest continue to roll out each week, most of them white for now (most reds are still maturing in barrels). Some are available only at winery boutiques, while others are making it to provincial stores. An excellent example is Henry of Pelham Reserve Riesling 2007 ($14.95), beautifully big for a riesling and dry, with zesty apple and citrus getting a kick of spice and tingly minerals. It won a gold medal at the recent Ontario Cuvée awards.

From Ontario and places east over to the West now. British Columbia saw as good a harvest last fall as Ontario, and the quality is obvious in See Ya Later Ranch Riesling 2007 ($16.99 in B.C., No. 579045). Big and zesty like the Henry of Pelham, it offers up a wallop of peach, green apple and spice and a clean, crisp finish.

I have no idea what professional tour guides do, but I'm going to try a half-baked impression this October. Corkscrew in hand, I'll be taking this column on the road, so to speak, to Napa and Sonoma, Calif.,with a few of you brave readers (I hope). Among the highlights of the Oct. 16 to 20 trip will be dinners at Beringer Vineyards and Francis Ford Coppola's swank winery as well as a tasting atthe excellent Cakebread winery with owner Jack Cakebread. Learn more at GlobeRecognition.com or by calling 1-866-545-0016. The package price isn't cheap, but, hey, we're bunking at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, the superspa where Oprah and Tom Cruise have slept (in different beds and at different times).