Not sure about everyone else, but Dry-January didn’t last too long in our household this year. What’s usually a pretty easy endeavour following a glutenous December had a pretty bleak start this year. When everything is locked down, it’s cold, dark, and we literally can’t go anywhere at all, nice meals at home are all we have to look forward to at my house. Whether it’s take-out from some favourite restaurants that need our support, or a cozy home-cooked meal, denying that nice glass of wine turned out to be a bridge too far this year. So cheers to the best of intentions under pandemic conditions!

What pairs best with seasonal depression, lock downs, and cold dark weather? For me, a nice big red is what I’m reaching for these days. And probably the most popular big red on the market today is Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m sure everyone is familiar with this grape, but maybe not all it’s various styles. It can be a bit of a chameleon. It can go from dark fruit, earthy, graphite notes to dusty, herbaceous menthol flavours, to big jammy, stewed fruit compote depending where and how it was made. Always full bodied, but can be bone dry, earthy and tannic, right up to sweet, jammy and oaky. So here’s an excellent selection that runs the gamut.

Mitchell, Finca Decero, Echeverria, and Cycles Gladiator Cabernets.

MITCHELL WINES, ‘SEVEN HILL’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON | CLARE VALLEY, AUSTRALIA 2012
$29.99 by the case from Lifford, or $34 per bottle from Byward Wine Market
Throw out everything you know about Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale Cabernet, this is entirely a different class of wine. Clare Valley is most famous for their Rieslings, the warm, but cooler terroir makes outstanding, balanced, age-worthy Cabs and Shirazes. If you like Bordeaux-style Cabs, this is for you. Within Australia it would be closest to Margaret River style, achieving that excellent ripeness while maintaining elegance without getting over-ripe and sweet. And this wine is released at 8 years old, so they’ve already done a good part of the aging for you! It’s drinking wonderfully now, but could definitely last another 10+ years in the cellar. The Mitchell family were one of the early pioneers of the Clare Valley winegrowers, and were among the leaders pushing the whole region to go 100% screw cap in the early 2000’s. This vineyard is organic and dry-farmed with no irrigation to stress the vines into greater complexity.

FINCA DECERO, CABERNET SAUVIGNON | MENDOZA, ARGENTINA 2017
$25.99 by the case from Lifford, or $28 per bottle from Byward Wine Market
This wine drinks exactly like what its terroir looks like. Mendoza is 3500 ft altitude in the sunny foothills of the Andes mountain range. The soil is all gravelly, sandy, and dusty. And that’s what this wine is like…in the most positive sense. Think dark black currants, cassis and hints of licorice meets earth, graphite and fine-grain, dusty tannins that coat your tongue. This is a big wine that’s complex, rich and savoury, with a fresh, earthy edge, and hints of dusty dark cooking chocolate. Almost no perception of any oak, even though it was aged in barrel for 14 months in 30% new French Oak. You get a nice taste of pure Cabernet. Oh yes, and it’s organic, hand harvested, and hand everything, as they have no tractors or machinery on the property aside from a forklift for barrels in the winery. 1000% hands-on attention to detail.

ECHEVERRIA, CABERNET SAUVIGNON ‘RESERVA’ | CURICO VALLEY, CHILE 2018
$15.99 by the case from Lifford, or $18 per bottle from Byward Wine Market
Organic long before it was cool, the Echeverria family has been growing grapes in Chile since the 1700’s and commercially since the 1930’s. All the grapes are estate fruit from their home vineyard. And all their wines are made in a very French style. Meaning there is an elegance to everything, with lots of flavour without ever being over-ripe or sweet. This one even has a nice hint of herbaceousness in a slightly minty or peppery direction. It’s more reminiscent of Bordeaux than of California and an exceptional value for the price.

CYCLES GLADIATOR, CABERNET SAUVIGNON | CALIFORNIA, USA 2017
$19.99 by the case from Lifford, or $23 per bottle from Byward Wine Market
The prototypical California Cabernet. This famous wine and it’s super recognizable label featuring the 1895 art deco painting by Georges Massias of the naked red-head woman flying alongside her Gladiator cycle with wings was a brand started in 2005 by the Hahn family. It was a tribute to the famous artwork of the Cycles Gladiator bicycle company and the bicycles that were seen as a liberating invention for women, freeing them a degree from domesticity to travel outside of the home. Along that theme, the winery works with charities supporting women and women’s art initiatives. But of the wine itself, the majority of the fruit comes from Mendocino County, a great place for bold Cab Sauv. It’s a classic big, ripe full bodied Cali Cab, with notes of dark fruit like cassis, black currants, and licorice, soft tannins, hints of vanilla and oak with a long smooth finish.

WINE BRACKET + ZOOM TASTING
A few more things to help us have a little more fun at home during lock down:

1) I’ve created a Cab Sauv bracket. It’s a tournament facing off Cabernet against Cabernet for your own palate. If you’re a sports fan, you know how this works. If not, see the attached picture. Two teams (in this case, wines) face off, the winner moves on to the next stage, facing off against the winner of the other showdown. We each taste all 4 wines and judge which ones we liked best in each showdown, and advancing to pick your overall winner. You could follow the bracket and taste them against each other as per the bracket, or one at a time, making notes on each then figure out which you liked best for each showdown, and which moves on to win in the bracket. Then email your bracket back to me, or post on social media and tag us. We’ll tally it up and see who the overall winner is. To participate, you just need to pick up all 4 wines, either by the case (Maybe split 4 cases with 4 friends taking 3 bottles each?) or if you’re in Ottawa stop by the Byward Wine Market and grab a single bottle of each. You can order online for local delivery.

2) We’ll be doing another Zoom tasting on Saturday at 7pm. Last week’s Zoom tasting on Biodynamics wines went really well and this week we’ll do a tasting of these New World Cabernets. To participate all you need to do is buy any of these wines featured this week, either by the case from Lifford or stop by the Byward Wine Market and grab a bottle. Then just email me to let me know which bottle you have and that you’d like to join the Zoom. I’ll reply with the Zoom link and see you on Saturday!

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With the coming further lock down measures in the State of Emergency declared for Ontario the Byward Wine Market will still be able to remain open for take-out. We are constantly cleaning and have several ways to safely get you some amazing wine during the coming stay-home orders: You can stop by in person to pick out your wine for take-out, we can offer curbside pickup with online orders, or you can choose local delivery within Ottawa at the online checkout.

Just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case delivery is Wednesday at 9:30am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on instagram for daily wine content at @bywardwinemarket and @capitalwine.ottawa!