Our wine critic picks the perfect bottles for every wine lover on your list

Help the social butterfly party in style with a bottle of 2017 Henry of Pelham Cuvée Catharine “Carte Blanche” Estate Blanc de Blancs, VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara (Vintages and Winery $49.95). This pure Chardonnay is fine, fragrant and elegant. It shines pale gold, smells appealingly of Grandma’s apple crisp—cooked Cortland, buttery crumble and a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg—then, spirals in with more of the same, nodding toward sweet dough, almond pastry, a touch of walnut and lemon zest. This dry, detailed tapestry of a wine with its quietly mineral undertow is drinking beautifully right now. Score: 94

For the carnivore

If every meal centres on red meat for this wine lover in your life, give a bottle of 2022 El Gorú Monastrell, Syrah, Petit Verdot from Jumilla, Spain (Vintages Essential $15.95). This red with the “mad hairy fella” on the label exudes bold, dark scents of muddled wild blueberries, graphite, cherries and black olive. Then, it powers in—a firm fistful of flavour. Blackberries and grilled meat, black pepper and blueberries taste saturated and serious, leaving behind a sifting of bittersweet cocoa on the finish. Sturdy, serious-tasting red at a reasonable price that’s marvelous with meat. Score: 90

For the spicy food lover

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• Dec 31, 1969
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Spicy-hot food lovers will appreciate a bottle of 2021 Tawse Quarry Road Riesling, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara (LCBO and Winery $24.95). This devastatingly delicious, off-dry white goes beautifully with hot curries, spicy noodle dishes and other fiercely flavourful foods. Each glassful swirls with fresh peach, juicy fig and lime aromas before breaking into a sprint on the palate. The ripe beam of flavour ripples out with dried apricot, lime sorbet, salted lime zest and grapefruit pith imbued with cool steeliness and crushed seashells—such complexity. The wine’s kiss of sweetness cools the palate while the mouthwatering acidity keeps it quenching. Score: 93

For the one who has it all

The 2012 Henriot Brut Rosé Millésimé Champagne from France (Vintages now $124.25, reg. $152.95) will please the most discerning wine lover. It’s a 10-year-old Champagne made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown exclusively in Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. It’s drinking beautifully now. And it’s an outstanding buy at about $30 off.

Each fluteful opens with fresh, vivid lemon-cream and raspberry scents with biscuity depth, a sweet butter charm and real finesse. The attack is elegant, expressive and cerebral, dancing with fleeting allusions of red fruit, oven-fresh pastries and jam as well as yogurt and toasted honeycomb. Just a delightful Champagne that persists for ages on the finish. A blue-chip bottle to give with confidence. Score: 97

For the bourbon drinker

The newly released 2020 Durant & Booth Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, California (Vintages $37.95) is sure to appeal to the bourbon drinkers on your list. This deep, dark red releases the fragrance of grilled cherries, blackcurrant liqueur and a toasted tobacco—a forthright wine with real power and push. Then, the entry seems to happen in slow motion, rolling in with velvet flavours of charred fruit laced with bourbon barrel, cherry cobbler, fenugreek and white pepper. There’s a certain majesty here that is difficult to miss. Very good value. Score: 93

For the film buff

Wooded Chardonnay and hot buttered popcorn are a classic match. So give the wine-loving film buff a bottle of the 2022 One Pound Per Acre Chardonnay from Australia (LCBO $9.95). Each citrussy sip is threaded with toasty, buttery goodness and a touch each of almond and vanilla. Just a deliciously good value wine that pairs perfectly with that all-time-favourite movie snack. Wrap it up with a jar of Orville Redenbacher. Score: 93 

For the gastronome

The 2022 La Nerthe Les Cassagnes Côtes-du-Rhone, France (Vintages $26.95) is a ripe, round, unwooded blend of Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne that just hit shelves and is sure to please the foodie on your list. Sliced pear, sun-ripened mango, sweet cream and a touch bitter orange can be found on the nose as well as breezy floral and sea spray suggestions. Then, the wine floods in with a diffused glow—a calm unfurling of flavour that shifts from grapefruit to orange peel to poached pear before mineral salts, butter and nuts emerge and linger. This dry, organic white with saline-umami-rich charms is a gastronomic wine. Give it with a cookbook. Score: 93

For the pizza lover

Pizza might be the world’s most perfect food. For the wine lover who pays homage to this happy fact by regularly throwing pizza parties, give a magnum of the 2022 Botter Doppio Passo Primitivo, Puglia IGT from Italy (LCBO $25.95/1.5L). This earthy-jammy red offers immediate pleasure with its full-fruited flourish of plummy blackberry goodness threaded with savoury suggestions of mushroom, cured meat and salt, and it finishes with a long, earthy-cherry close. It's a pizza party waiting to happen. Score: 90

For the vinous adventurer

For the wine lover always hankering for something new and interesting, give a bottle of the 2021 Thalia Red Wine from the Peloponnese region of Greece (LCBO $13). This dry red made from one of Greece’s most-planted grape varieties, Agiorgitiko, seasoned with Cabernet Sauvignon, offers a little adventure in the glass. Inky dark in colour yet light and lifted on the palate with just 12 per cent alcohol, each glassful tastes affable and generous—all crushed berries and damsons with a touch of vanilla and white pepper. Fabulous find and supremely gluggable. Inexpensive too. Score: 91

For the fireside sipper

If the wine lover on your list loves a quiet glass in the evening, give them a bottle of Cocchi Vermouth di Torino from Piedmont, Italy (LCBO $32.75). This sweet red vermouth is an aromatized, fortified wine spiraling with aromas and flavours. Find orange zest and lemon, cinnamon and anise, bitter cherries, rose and candied nut on the nose and palate—and so much more. It tastes kaleidoscopic, which is why it’s considered one of the world’s leading red Vermouths. The sweet-tart complexity remains for ages on the finish too. Outstanding on its own over ice or made into a Negroni or Manhattan. Score: 94

For the Marlborough lover

For the lover of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a new bottle hits shelves Dec. 2 that’s sure to please. It’s the 2021 Villa Maria Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand (Vintages $26.95). This thriller teems with papaya and mango, grapefruit and pineapple, laced with lemongrass, snow pea and a fistful of damp herbs. This fragrance is pure, bright and leads to glassy-cool almost crystalline flavours of sliced grapefruit, juicy pineapple and green mango and basil laced with beeswax, sea spray and wet stone. Delight! Score: 94

For anyone named Lorraine

If you, by chance, have someone named Lorraine on your list, you simply must give her a bottle of the 2021 Elderton Ode to Lorraine from the Barossa Valley, Australia (Vintages $47.95). This plush, sun-soaked blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot is a cashmere crush of dark berried goodness. Deliciously saturated, each sip slips in with black cherries, cassis, roasted plum and a note of gingerbread and fruitcake as well as black peppercorn. A bone dry yet sweet-fruited gem of a wine. Score: 91