14 of the LCBO’s best gift wines

Roederer 2009 Cristal Vintage Brut

$304.95 | Champagne, France | 95 points Cristal has a lovely bouquet of apple strudel, yellow flowers, almonds, vanilla and lemon. It feels light and airy, but there’s great acidity, structure and length of flavour. Don’t over-chill.Vintages Essentials 268755  

Dom Pérignon 2006 Vintage Brut

$231.95 | Champagne, France | 91 points Dom is frankly overpriced, but naming one’s price is the prerogative of the world’s best-known Champagne. It’s powerful and elegant with delicate mousse. Mature flavours show dried straw, earthiness, walnut, lemon and dried pear. Don’t over-chill. Vintages Essentials 280461  

Bouchard Pere and Fils 2015 Pouilly-Fuissé

$30.00 | Burgundy, France | 91 points From a great vintage comes a rich, refined chardonnay, with generous, nuanced peach, vague almond and oak spice, honeysuckle, thyme and lemon-blossom flavours. It’s rich yet still linear with some minerality. Drink from now to 2020. Chill lightly. LCBO 56580  

Cloudy Bay 2016 Sauvignon Blanc

$35.95 | Marlborough, New Zealand | 91 points This pioneering brand is a slim, balanced, dry and almost mineral sauvignon with notes of lemon-lime, fresh herbs and guava. It’s mouth-watering, focused and well balanced. Chill well. Vintages Essentials 304469  

Henri Bourgeois 2016 Les Baronnes Sancerre

$27.95 | Loire Valley, France | 91 points This bright, fresh and complex sauvignon blanc has complex, tightly wound flavours of lemon, grapefruit, juniper, yellow peppers and granny smith apple. It’s medium weight, crisp and juicy. Chill well. Vintages Essentials 542548  

Sonoma-Cutrer 2015 Russian River Ranches Chardonnay

$27.95 | Sonoma Coast, California | 90 points Calm, cool and collected, this Sonoma chardonnay has notes of ripe peach, lemon, oak toast, vanillin and an underlying sense of evergreen. It’s medium weight, slim but sophisticated. Chill lightly. Vintages Essentials 608653  

Cakebread Cellars 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon

$119.95 | Napa Valley | 93 points This famous cabernet is very poised, with complex aromas and flavours of blackcurrant jam, oak chocolate, pepper, roasted rosemary, capers and nutmeg. It’s almost velvet with fine tannin, acidity and warming alcohol. Best 2019 to 2025. Vintages Essentials 710426  

Antinori 2014 Tignanello

$105.95 | Tuscany, Italy | 92 points Arguably Italy’s most famed red, this rich, refined sangiovese and cabernet blend intrigues with complex notes of raspberry, currant, roasted herbs, meat, vanillin and gentle smoke. It’s full-bodied, intense and rich yet sour-edged with firm tannin. Vintages Essentials 986786  

Masi 2012 Costasera Amarone Della Valpolicella

$43.45 | Veneto, Italy | 92 points This lighter vintage of Masi’s Amarone impresses with precision and pillow-soft texture. Complex flavours include dried cherry, fig, meaty notes, roasted chestnut and a touch of earth. Rich and smooth. Best 2018 to 2022. LCBO 317057  

Taylor Fladgate 20-Year-Old Tawny Port

$69.95 | Douro Valley, Portugal | 92 points Twenty years in the barrel has given this sweet, fortified (20% alcohol) port a pale, tawny colour. The bouquet is superb with maple walnut, prune, dried apricot, honey and wood spice. It’s smooth with a nicely bitter walnut finish. Chill lightly. Vintages Essentials 149047  

Louis M. Martini 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon

$34.95 | Napa Valley | 91 points Many Napa cabs of this stature are three times the price. This cab sauvignon has blackcurrant, vanillin, cedar, oak resin and chocolate notes. It’s full-bodied, juicy and youthfully tannic. Best 2019 to 2025. Vintages Essentials 232371  

Zenato 2012 Amarone Classico

$52.95 | Veneto, Italy | 91 points Weighing in at a whopping 16.5% alcohol, this gentle giant couches its alcohol heat within a generous, cool note of ripe cherry jam, fine oak vanilla and spice. It’s full-bodied, dense and rich. Chill a bit. Vintages Essentials 413179  

Batasiolo 2013 Barolo

$29.95 | Piedmont, Italy | 90 points This typically pale barolo offers a subtle, integrated nose of sour cherry fruit nestled amid forest-floor herbaceousness, leather and spice. It’s medium-full bodied, warming and smooth with the nebbiolo grape’s notorious tannin drying the finish. Best 2019 to 2023. LCBO 178541  

Muga 2013 Rioja Reserva

$25.95 | Spain | 90 points This rich, barrel-aged rioja shows dried fig and cherry fruit with tobacco, oak resin, coconut, vanillin and fine spice. The flavours are very complex and layered in this full-bodied, warm and tart-edged wine. Now to 2023. Vintages Essentials 177345