10 Spring Sippers Under $40

Some fresh favourites to get you through another month!

What week is it? What time is it? We’re entering a new month and for the first time in a long time we can say that the forecast is looking GOOD. Yes, the quarantine days are long but they’re warming up and you deserve to have a steady supply of well-chilled wines waiting in the fridge for you at 5 (4, 3, 2…)

Several of us are indulging a little more often than usual right now and we’re looking for wines that offer good value. We’ve put together a list of some of our favourites that are crisp and refreshing for spring, but won’t break the bank. Avoid the long lines — and the risk — at the LCBO and have wine delivered.

We’re still offering free delivery in the GTA and contactless drops at the door!

For more information or to order, e-mail MichelleD@lifford.com or call her at 416-779-4101.

	Rivera 2018 Marese, Puglia, Italy $17.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) Forget Pinot Grigio! This Southern Italian white is made from 100% Bombino Bianco, a native grape to Puglia. It has a little more concentration but is kept fresh by a streak of bright acidity. Crisp, fruity, and dry with notes of preserved lemon, pineapple, and white flowers.
	Map Maker 2019 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand $21.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) This quintessential Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc offers incredible value. It’s dry and tangy with green capsicum, lime zest, gooseberry and subtle tropical and passionfruit flavours. A cut above anything on the shelves at this price, it’s juicy, refreshing, and full of energy with just the right amount of grassiness.
	Badenhorst 2019 Secateurs Chenin, Swartland, South Africa $23.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) This Chenin Blanc is a rounder style with great density and palate weight. It’s made from old unirrigated bush vines and is fermented in a mix of concrete and old foudres. Citrus and tropical fruit are complicated by flint, orange blossom and honey. Aging on the lees gives this a savoury character, and firm acidity keeps things fresh!
	Vincent Caillé NV Je t’aime mais j’ai soif Muscadet, France $24.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) The name of this charming French white translates to ‘I love you but I’m thirsty.’ Is there a better quarantine slogan? Caillé is a little organic winery in Muscadet in the western Loire Valley. This is a spin on Muscadet (a typically light, citrusy, salty seafood wine) that sees the addition of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Rousanne, adding a little extra weight and depth to the palate.
	Pazo de San Mauro 2018 Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain $26.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) This is as beautiful as the bottle suggests. It’s the perfect example of what Albariño should be, made from a winery housed in a 16th century stone cottage across the river from Portugal. It’s fruity, fresh, aromatic, and floral, finishing dry and with mouthwatering acidity.
	Bernard Defaix 2018 Chablis, France $39.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) Okay, maybe this is less of an everyday wine but sometimes you just need Chablis. Defaix makes polished, precise wines using organically farmed fruit. This is everything you’d hope for — textured and electric with notes of lemon zest, chalk, and sea salt.
	Domaine des Aspras 2018 Rosé, Provence, France $24.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) Does anything taste more like spring than Provence rosé? Aspras is located in Correns, an 800-person village that was the first totally organic town in France. This salmon coloured wine is savoury and mineral with notes of strawberry, peach, mint, and white flowers.
	Telmo Rodriguez 2018 Almuvedre, Alicante, Spain $16.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) This is a banger from Spanish star Telmo Rodriguez. Almuvedre is from Alicante along the Valencian coast and is 100% Monastrell (Mourvèvre in France, where it’s a blending grape). This is juicy but has a savoury meaty character and just the right amount of structure.
	Poderi dal Nespoli 2017 Sangiovese Superiore Prugneto, Emilia-Romagna, Italy $21.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) New winery alert! We recently welcomed this century-old Romagna winery into our portfolio. This 100% Sangiovese is from the Prugneto vineyard, the first plot that the Ravaioli family bought in the forties. This wine has notes of tangy red fruit, forest floor and spice.
	Dominique Piron 2017 Morgon ‘La Chanaise’, Beaujolais, France $26.99 / bottle (12 btls/cs) Piron is a fourteenth-generation winemaker in Morgon, one of the best-known and fuller-bodied of the 10 Crus in Beaujolais. This 100% Gamay is made from old vines (50+ years) grown on granitic soils. It’s medium bodied and tense with notes of blueberry, violet, and beetroot.