Let the WineAlign Critics help you find the Right Wine
for the Right Price, Right Now!
Top 5 Brunello at the LCBO
Top Values at the LCBO (August 2019)
August Deals and Discounts at the LCBO Your Guide to Best Values, Limited Time Offers & Bonus Air Miles selections at the LCBO by Steve Thurlow I hope you have been enjoying summer. Since I travel so much throughout the year, I try to stay at home in July and August. This gives me a […] More
Buyers’ Guide to VINTAGES August 17th: Getting Beyond Beef in Argentina
Getting Beyond Beef in Argentina By David Lawrason with notes from Michael Godel In the August 17 Argentina feature VINTAGES buyers got it right with an intriguing, diverse and quality group of wines. I have scored most 90 points or better. The selection, although always maddeningly skimpy, is a well focused snapshot of what’s new […] More
Femmes du Vin: Canada’s First Events to Empower and Inspire Women in Wine
By Janet Dorozynski, DipWSET, PhD When I first became seriously interested in wine in the mid-90s there were few women at tastings and wine shows, very few female sommeliers and only a smattering of women wine makers, writers or in positions of power in the wine business. Sure there were powerhouse women like Jancis Robinson, […] More
National Wine Awards of Canada
Discover Canada's best wines! In 2016, 22 judges tasted 1,535 wines from 230 wineries across the country to identify Canada's top wines.
View Award-Winning Wines
World Wine Awards of Canada
Seventeen judges tasted 1,000 wines in 21 categories in 2015 to find the world's best wines sold in Canada under $50.
View Award-Winning Wines
Brunello di Montalcino is one of the most prestigious appellations in Italy, born in the 19th Century in its present form thanks to the efforts of the Biondi-Santi family, who defined its rules and have largely guided it to the present day. The wines are made from 100% Sangiovese grape, in particular from a clone called Sangiovese Grosso, or also as Brunello - hence the appellation's name. Traditionally, the wine goes through an extended maceration period where color, tannins and flavour are extracted from the skins. Following fermentation the wine is then aged in oak. Traditionally, the wines are aged 3 years or more in "botti" - large Slovenian oak casks that impart little oak flavour and generally produce more austere wines. Some winemakers will use small French barrels which impart a more pronounced vanilla oak flavour and add a certain fruitiness to the wine. Whatever the approach, wines must be aged for for years (with a minimum of two years in barrel) before being released, according to appellation rules.
