Today we’re going to keep things short and sweet, putting the spotlight on some new mixed cases from Lifford Wines. These mixed cases aren’t coming through Byward Wine Market, La Bottega, or Pan Chancho, but shipped directly to your door from Lifford. They’re all great mixes, curated to showcase specific producers or themes.

We’re also going to take our first break with the Saturday Zoom tastings since we started on New Year’s Eve. I’m moving this week, and because of covid we can’t hire and movers or cleaners so we’ll be working overtime all week and into the weekend to do everything ourselves. But next week we’ll be back with another Saturday Zoom from a brand new location! But for this week, consider one of these great mixers that can be nice to try for the weekend, or to put down in the cellar:

CLICK HERE FOR MIXED CASE SELECTION FROM LIFFORD WINES

Here’s a few of my personal favourites:

WEINBACH GOLD:
Anybody who knows me, knows that Weinbach is my all-time favourite winery. For more on why I love Weinbach so much, you can follow this link from an earlier feature with Weinbach, or this writeup following my visit in 2014. And we don’t often have them in stock, so to be in a place where we have several wines in stock, and a mixed case available, well, that’s a win-win. If you already love Alsace, this is the penultimate. If you want to be convinced, these are the wines for the job!
http://www.domaineweinbach.com/

PAINTED ROCK MIXED PACK:
Really great B.C. wine is hard to find in Ontario. Small allotments are imported by private agencies, mostly for restaurants but not much finds its way to any shelves. Here’s a fun opportunity to taste one of the very best producers of Bordeaux style big reds in Canada. I loved this winery so much that I went and lived on the property for almost a month and helped with harvest and winemaking in 2012. Check out this post I wrote for Capital Wine way back in October of 2012…complete with a sweet video I took from a 4-wheeler ripping around the edge of the vineyard. Such a special property and outstanding wines that are worth the money and are very age worthy. I still have some 2007’s in my cellar, their first vintage, made from their young grapes, and when I open one of those every so often, everyone is continuously impressed with their development and complexity from 3 or 4 year old vines. Now 14 years deep, they’ve reached another level. Similarly, the winery started out as a simple, functional winery kind of hidden behind a hill with a small tool shed as the tasting room. Now years later as the age of vines and reputation has grown, they’ve built a gorgeous tasting room. Very much worth a visit if you’re in BC.
https://www.paintedrock.ca/

DE MARTINO, ‘GALLARDIA’ MIXED PACK:
The De Martino family is famous in Chile as one of the most studious of terroir, constantly exploring and evolving Chilean winemaking. In the 90’s they were the first to varietally label and export and 100% Carmenere, they were also the first Robert Parker 90+ wine, and Wine Spectator Top 100. Now the kids have taken over and they’re bringing the winery back to the roots of Chilean viticulture, making old school, dry-farmed, horse-drawn, natural wine. Check out my post from last year for more on how this project is focusing on Chilés Itata Valley, where the Spaniards first planted grapes in the 1500s. Cool story, and super delicious wine that are fresh and juicy, just perfect for the spring season.
https://demartino.cl/en/itata-series-2/

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The Byward Wine Market is fully open for in person shopping, as well as online orders offering curbside pickup or local delivery within Ottawa. And just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case deliveries is Wednesday before 9:00am. 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!