Do your wine preferences vary with the calendar? As in lighter, crisper styles for summer and big, beefy reds for winter? Mine do, more or less, as my recycling bin would attest if it could talk. (Mercifully, it can't talk; even more mercifully, it can't count.)
Summer, for me, brings on a powerful thirst for dry rosé and zippy sauvignon blanc, for example, because my diet tends to revolve around salads and lean main courses. When scarf-and-tuque weather hits, I'm more inclined to down heartier fare and big reds, such as cabernet sauvignon. It's not a hard rule, just a general predilection.
Then there's September, a month of vinous vacillation like no other. Some of us get the urge to prolong summer, don't we? Yet the nose smells a nip in the air. Which way to turn? Fashion folk seem to have it figured out where colours are concerned. "No white after Labour Day," goes the maxim. It's goodbye summer and hello fall – all on a single Tuesday morning.
But wine is not wardrobe, unless you own one of those "You had me at merlot" T-shirts. It's more a matter of personal than public taste. And it has much to do with the food on the table. I suppose one could, if pressed, draw a line in the sand where the following bottles are concerned: five zippy sips for the last blast of summer and five gutsy, earthy reds that tilt toward autumn. To me, they all taste like September.
Thirty Bench Riesling 2013 (Niagara)
SCORE: 91 PRICE: $18.95
A consistently good riesling producer, Thirty Bench gets the balance very right here. At a modest 10.6-per-cent alcohol, it's off-dry, but the sweetness meets its match in vibrant acidity. The flavours suggest lime, green apple and spice. Available in Ontario.
Thornbury Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (New Zealand)
SCORE: 90 PRICE: $18.95
This is classically exuberant Marlborough sauvignon blanc in a smartly tuned package. Punchy, rich, outgoing tropical fruit and citrus characters dance a lively step with fresh grass and herbs. Well priced for what's in the bottle. Available in Ontario.
Atlantis Dry White 2014 (Greece)
SCORE: 88 PRICE: $17.95
Produced on the sunny island of Santorini by century-old family estate Argyros, this tastes like bottled summer. Light and bone-dry, it shows a smooth, polished core, with fresh notes of citrus and mineral around the edges. Available in Ontario
Ogier Ventoux Rosé 2014 (France)
SCORE: 88 PRICE: $12.95
Some people prefer the sort of deeply saturated rosés that seem to want to be red wines. The rest of us are drawn to the pale side of the spectrum. This is pretty pink in the southern French style, from the Rhône Valley but with a nod to nearby Provence. Medium-weight for a rosé, it's dry, yet has a subtly sweet, rounded core, showing red apple, peach and watermelon notes. A bargain. Available in Ontario.
13th Street Gamay Noir 2013 (Niagara)
SCORE: 90 PRICE: $19.95
13th Street has long been a specialist in gamay, the light, crisp red that refreshes like no other. Here's a relatively concentrated offering in the image of fine cru Beaujolais, gamay's highest expression. Rich with cherry-like fruit, it's built around grippy tannins, bright-eyed acidity and not a trace of mellowing oak. www.13thstreetwinery.com.
Scacciadiavoli Montefalco Rosso 2011 (Italy)
SCORE: 91 PRICE: $20.9
Scacciadiavoli, the self-described oldest winery in the Montefalco zone of Umbria, derives its 19th-century name from an exorcist who plied his trade in a village next to the estate. Literally, it means "one who casts out devils." Something was cast out of this wine, too: the harsh tannins that often accompany Montefalco reds. Most of the zone's top wines are based on the astringent local sagrantino grape. But this youthful offering, designed for early consumption, is a mix of mostly sangiovese – the more supple grape famous for Chianti in nearby Tuscany – with 25-per-cent merlot and just 15-per cent sagrantino. Full-bodied, it displays solid stuffing, with notes of blackberry and plum jam and, it can't be denied, a degree of sagrantino firmness.
Hecht & Bannier Côtes du Roussillon– Villages 2012 (France)
SCORE: 91 PRICE: $24.95
A classic blend of several local grapes, including grenache and syrah, from a rising young négociant firm, this full-bodied red displays voluptuous concentration with confident balance. The chunky dark-berry core rests on a firm tannic spine, with lively southern French characters of lavender and licorice. Various prices in Alberta.
Stag's Hollow Cabernet Franc 2012 (British Columbia)
SCORE: 90 PRICE: $28 in B.C.
A genetic parent of robust cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc tends to be leaner, with a pleasantly earthy undercurrent. A brilliant performer in British Columbia's south Okanagan Valley, the grape ripens with more richness than it does in the longestablished cabernet franc vineyards of France's cool Loire Valley. Stag's Hollow's medium-full-bodied 2012 strikes good balance between rich blackberry-like fruit and savoury oakbarrel characters, with complementary notes of vanilla, dark chocolate and tobacco, framed by gentle, fine-grained tannins and crisp acidity. Available for shipping direct from the winery in multiples of six bottles, www.stagshollowwinery.com.
Beronia Rioja Tempranillo Elaboracion Especial 2012 (Spain)
SCORE: 89 PRICE: $15.95
Bring it on: a red Rioja with a combination of soft, seductive cherry fruit, classically gutsy American oak and a price fit for weeknight pleasure. This offering, new to the Ontario market, serves up an excellent introduction to the storied style of Spain's most famous wine region. It's medium-bodied and very dry, with fine-tuned fruit flavour lifted by aromatic overtones of seasoned wood, charred bread, and spice, framed by edgy acidity.
Miguel Torres Las Mulas Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (Chile)
SCORE: 87 PRICE: $12.95
There's a trace of crowd-pleasing sweetness to the cassis-like fruit in this full-bodied, organic red. But it finishes dry, with bright spice, cedar and a pronounced eucalyptus note. Available in Ontario at the above price and at various prices in Alberta private stores.