Nine essential wines for all your holiday feasting needs

A WHITE FOR TURKEY Ravine Vineyard 2010 Chardonnay $24 | Niagara | 92 points Powerful, barrel-aged chardonnay will carry turkey and all the trimmings. Apple, butterscotch and peat smoke coalesce in this version. Vintages. LCBO 173377 Pair with Carl Heinrich’s deconstructed turkey with stuffing »

A RED FOR TURKEY Coyote’s Run 2010 Red Paw Pinot Noir $25 | Niagara | 89 points Ontario pinot evokes cranberries, making it a slam dunk with turkey. This one has a whisper of wood smoke and enough edgy acidity to cut through the richest fare. Vintages. LCBO 79228 Pair with Carl Heinrich’s deconstructed turkey with stuffing » 

WELCOMING BUBBLY Bailly Lapierre Réserve Brut Crémant de Bourgogne $18 | Burgundy | 90 points Bracing Crémant de Bourgogne can easily pass for more expensive champagne. Serve this one while guests are arriving and settling in. With its nose of baked apple, tea biscuits and clover honey, nobody will know the difference. Vintages. LCBO 991562

PRE-MEAL TIPPLE Lillet Blanc $15.25 | France | 90 points A vintage European treat, Lillet Blanc has a cult following among Toronto booze geeks. The barrel-aged sémillon-sauvignon blend gets its alcohol strength (17 per cent) from brandy, which imbues it with orange, licorice, cedar and nutmeg flavours. Serve as an aperitif with gin and an ice cube. Vintages. LCBO 322297

A STURDY RED FOR RICH FIXINGS See our Holiday Pairing Recipes » Chinese Rice Stuffing | Scalloped Sweet Potatoes Rocca Delle MacÌe Tenuta Sant’Alfonso 2009 Chianti Classico $22 | Tuscany | 91 points Mid-weight, savoury sangiovese stands up to all the heavy sides, but it’s often overlooked because it’s Italian (and turkey dinner is not). Made from the sangiovese grosso clone, this sturdy red exudes currant, raspberry, cedar and herb aromas. Vintages. LCBO 942094 Pair with Jonathan Poon’s Chinese rice stuffing » Pair with Ben Heaton’s scalloped sweet potatoes »

TO GO WITH EVERYTHING Château de Cruzeau Blanc $28 | Pessac-Léognan, France | 89 points This luscious barrel-aged white from Bordeaux glows gold. The intense cedar, balsam, persimmon and spice aromas beckon for turkey and stuffing—or any poultry, vegetable or pork dishes. It’s medium-weight and soft with a pleasantly sappy bitter­ness. Vintages. LCBO 966010

PAIR WITH APPLE PIE Puklus Cellar Szamorodni Sweet Tokaji $19 | Tokay, Hungary | 91 points For an exotic dessert sipper, look beyond Ontario’s ice wines to this Hungarian gem. Its honey, ginger root, beeswax and dried apricot flavours complement apple pie and shortbread. It’s slim, rich and bolted together with great acidity. Plus, it’s a bargain. Vintages. LCBO 179374 Pair with David Chow’s apple-prune galette »

ONE LAST INDULGENCE Osborne Pedro Ximenez 1827 Premium Sweet Sherry $18 | Jerez, Spain | 93 points Put a log on the fire, open the chocolates and indulge in PX. This well-aged beauty pours black and is as thick as molasses. It has extraordinarily rich flavours of raisins, walnuts and warm Arabic spices. It’s silky, with length that will stretch until dawn. Vintages. LCBO 47944