As we head into this weekend, we can treat it as the warm-up for the long weekend that follows. Whether you’re heading to a cottage or making the most of your own backyard, there are still lots of beautiful warm evenings ahead of us.
Yes, and they deserve something great in the glass. So what should we be pouring? Who better to help us than Natalie MacLean, editor Canada’s largest drinks review site at nataliemaclean.com.
Welcome, Natalie.
Great to be back with you! This is my favourite stretch of the year. Nobody has said the word September out loud yet. And every plan somehow ends with someone saying we should really do this again before it gets cold. So let’s give that plan a few good pours.
Let’s start at the beginning of the afternoon. What’s the welcome drink?
Bread & Butter Prosecco
Prosecco DOC, Italy
This is the bottle you open as people arrive, whether that’s the backyard or the cottage. It’s made in a small town a close to Venice, Italy. Winemaker Linda Trotta works with a family who has owned their winery for 90 years.
The wine’s name itself captures their approach. Good things shouldn’t be complicated: don’t overthink it. That’s your Bread & Butter in life and in the glass.
Feel free to try the Bread & Butter Prosecco.
It’s crafted from Glera grapes with a little Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio with aromas of florals and citrus, ripe apple, pear and white peach. The acidity keeps it refreshing, the mouthfeel is creamy, and the bubbles keep arriving in soft layers right through a long finish. It’s polished, effortlessly social and under $20.
It wants to be served at 8 to 10 degrees. Wouldn’t this be lovely with a warm tray of focaccia out on the patio?
I should note that all the drinks we’re tasting today are in the LCBO.
More Pairings
- Late afternoon focaccia: pulled from the oven with olive oil pooling in every dimple, coarse salt catching the light, rosemary crisped dark at the edges, the steam reaching you before the plate does.
- Arrival burrata with grilled peaches: a torn white pouch spilling cream across peach halves still striped and warm from the grill, basil torn over top, a slick of green olive oil, cracked black pepper.
What about the one night we actually cook a proper dinner?
Volta Familia Ramirez Vineyard Chardonnay 2023
Prince Edward County, Ontario
Volta is a spectacular new winery in Prince Edward County, and this is one of their first releases arriving now in the LCBO.
Their logo is a barn swallow, a bird that flies long distances but always comes back to the same nest every year, the way we go back to our favourite spot every summer.
The winery is named for the turn in a sonnet or poem, the line where it changes direction.
It’s barrel fermented so it’s rich and opulent like the finest Burgundy without the Burgundy price tag.
This is just $34.95.
Feel free to try the Volta Familia Ramirez Vineyard Chardonnay.
You’ll taste the County’s racy limestone minerality running through the wild heart of this wine.
It offers rich aromas of honeyed oats, baked apple, and a little crumble topping, but it stays lifted and precise not heavy.
Serve it lightly chilled, around 15 degrees, in a wide-bowl glass. Wouldn’t this be spectacular with a Thai green curry shrimp out on the deck?
More Pairings
- Sunset green curry with shrimp: coconut milk turning pale green as it simmers, lime and basil rising in the steam, shrimp curling pink in the pan, warmth building slowly on the second spoonful.
- Long table zucchini ravioli: silky pasta pillows turned in brown butter, lemon zest lifting off the steam, pecorino melting into the sauce, a green freshness running through the middle.
Someone always says it’s too warm for red in August. What do you tell them?
Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages
France
Georges Duboeuf built his first mobile bottling line on the back of an old Citroen truck so his grape growers could bottle on site. He eventually went on to supply famous Michelin-starred restaurants like Paul Bocuse and the Troisgros brothers.
Beaujolais-Villages draws on 38 communes or small, fine wine regions. The family also runs Europe’s first theme park devoted to wine, which is my kind of theme park. Cellar Mountain and It’s a Small Barrel After All. Yes please!
Feel free to try the Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages.
Ripe raspberry, currant and strawberry, a velvety palate and fine tannins that never interrupt the conversation. Twenty minutes in the fridge before you pour, so 14 to 16 degrees, and the too-warm-for-red argument ends on its own. Wouldn’t this be great with a platter of grilled sausages at the picnic table?
More Pairings
- Picnic table charcuterie: ribbons of cured ham draped over a cool board, a wedge of aged cheese crumbling under the knife, cornichons snapping, warm baguette torn rather than sliced.
- Late evening grilled sausages: fat coils blistered and glossy off the grate, juices running the moment they’re cut, mustard sharp on the tongue, char and smoke rising off the platter.
The grill is going all weekend. What’s the red we want beside it?
Vineland Estates Cabernet Franc
Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Vineland Estates sits on the Niagara Escarpment on a homestead from 1845. The restaurant is in the old farmhouse. The wine shop is in a log barn with a ceiling that feels like a cathedral.
This is the old label for the wine below. Look for the new one above.
You arrive for a tasting and stay through lunch. The vines went in back in 1979.
This year the whole range has been redrawn, so the label tells you where the wine comes from before it tells you anything else. That’s why we have the two versions on the table today.
Great new look, same great wine.
Feel free to try the Vineland Estates Cabernet Franc.
Summer berries first, then a hint of wooden spice behind them. It feels broad on the palate, with smooth tannins and a lively acidity that keeps the fruit focused.
This is a wine built for BBQ, and it’s just as happy an hour later when the evening cools and everyone drifts toward the fire. Wouldn’t this be perfect with a rack of ribs off the backyard grill?
More Pairings
- Long weekend sirloin burger: a thick patty crusted dark on the grill, cheese slumping over the sides, juices soaking into a toasted bun, raw onion cutting through the richness.
- Fire pit grilled vegetables: zucchini and peppers striped black and blistered, thyme and olive oil hitting hot metal, sweetness concentrating as they come off the heat.
And when we just want something cold straight out of the cooler?
Mike’s Harder Lemonade
Canada
Mike’s is Canada’s original hard lemonade. Born in 1996, Mike’s is celebrating its 30th birthday.
Three decades later, their fun, familiar lemonade flavours still offer a refreshing taste, especially on a hot summer’s day.
It now comes “harder” at 7% alcohol in 473 ml and 740 ml cans and in the Mike’s Harder Mix Pack with strawberry lemonade and mango lemonade flavours. That’s perfect for a cottage weekend when you’re not sure what people prefer.
Let everyone choose their flavour from the cooler.
Feel free to try Mike’s Harder Lemonade.
Bright, zesty citrus notes with all the juiciness of lemon flavour behind it.
You can enjoy it cold, straight from the can or poured over ice in a highball glass with a lemon wheel.
Wouldn’t this be great relaxing on the deck with friends?
More Pairings
- Cooler side fried chicken: shattering golden crust, steam and pepper rising as it breaks open, the meat underneath still hot enough to make you pause between bites.
- Last night grilled cheese: butter crackling in the pan, sharp cheddar stretching as it pulls apart, edges lacy and browned, the whole thing eaten standing up at the counter.
Natalie, these suggestions are fantastic! Any final words of wisdom for our viewers?
Here’s to long tables, stunning sunsets and sharing them with the people we love. Cheers!
Thank you, Natalie! Where can we find you and these wines and drinks online?
On Instagram, I’m at @NatalieMacLeanWine and online, my website is nataliemaclean.com. Come for the patio pours, stay for the pairings.
Posted with permission of CTV’s CP24 Breakfast Show. Please drink responsibly.
