Saintly Fracette
This dry white comes in at 12% alcohol and carries a 92-point rating, priced at $23.95 (LCBO product 53350). Its grapes are sourced from Bill George's vineyard near Vineland, just 100 metres from Lake Ontario, a spot that gives the wine its cool-climate character.
Loveblock Tee Sauvignon Blanc
At $29.95, this is the priciest bottle on the list, but it also earns the highest score at 93 points. It's an extra dry white at 13.5% alcohol (LCBO product 14568), made in Marlborough, New Zealand. Loveblock produces the wine organically and biodynamically, and it's founded by Kim Crawford and Erica Crawford.
La Mascota Chardonnay
For $16.95, this extra dry Chardonnay (14% alcohol, LCBO product 126870, 92 points) comes from high-altitude vineyards in the Andean foothills of Mendoza, Argentina. It's aged nine months in a mix of French and American oak, which gives it some structure for a wine at this price point.
Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserva Viognier
The least expensive of the five at $11.95, this dry Viognier (13.5% alcohol, LCBO product 64287) still scored 90 points. Cono Sur is a Certified B Corp based in Chile's Central Valley and ships its wine carbon-neutral, worth knowing for Ottawa shoppers who care about how a bottle got to the shelf.
Vineland Estates Cabernet Franc
Rounding out the list is an Ontario red: an extra dry Cabernet Franc at 13% alcohol, $19.95 (LCBO product 47830), rated 90 points. It's grown on the Niagara Escarpment, making it one of two Ontario-grown wines on MacLean's list alongside the Saintly Fracette.
What led here
The timing lines up with ottown's earlier report on this week's early arrival of fall colour around Ottawa-Gatineau, as the National Capital Commission confirmed the season's official start. A glass of something new is as good a way as any to mark the shift.
None of the five wines are described as tested or tasted by ottown, this roundup is based entirely on Natalie MacLean's published tasting notes and ratings.
Sources: Ottawa Life Magazine
