Buyer’s Guide to Vintages December 6th Release
John Szabo’s Vintages Buyers Guide December 6: 2025 Beverage Trends and Breaking Bread & Drinking Pinot with the Mapuche
By John Szabo MS, with notes from David Lawrason, Michael Godel and Sara d’Amato
“In 2025 Ontarians embraced the opportunity to discover something new amidst restrictions on U.S.-produced products, new points of sale, and innovative new product releases,” declares the LCBO media release in its annual look at consumers’ consumptions trends across the province. Canadian products, and especially Ontario wines, were the main beneficiaries of this topsy-turvy 2025 vintage, and we have a trio of top locals to recommend this week out of a supersized 163-product December 6 holiday release. Australian reds gained ground in eastern and southwestern Ontario, represented on our shopping list by a classic Coonawarra cabernet and a seductive GSM from the Clare Valley.
Italy and France were the other trend winners, especially with Toronto-based consumers, and as usual we have plenty to recommend from the world’s two largest wine producers. France gives us a half dozen picks, including several excellent “party” wine suggestions under $22 and a stunning, triple 94-point white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Italy gives us three, two with double alignment: a polished Bolgheri Bordeaux-style beauty and a Barolo-quality nebbiolo at a Langhe nebbiolo price. The only quadruple alignment goes to an uncommonly good New Zealand sauvignon blanc. And elsewhere, I report on a brief trip to Chile last week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tayu, a collaborative project between Viña San Pedro and the indigenous Mapuche community of Buchahuieco in the Malleco Valley. It’s not just a lovely story, but also a lovely pinot noir, recommended in this release as well. Read on for the details and our two dozen picks.
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Snapshot of Ontario Beverage Trends
This past summer I reported on the impressive sales growth of Canadian wines in the first half of 2025. The trend has continued. An LCBO media release says: “In lieu of U.S.-produced wines, Ontario wines benefited from the strong customer sentiment to support local, with VQA sales increasing by +56%.” The increase was led mainly by Ontario red VQA (+66%) and Ontario white VQA (+54%). Demand for wines from Canada as a whole was up 19%. It will be interesting to see if the buy-local movement continues once U.S. wines are back on shelves.
The other main winners were Australia (+17%) — I’m sure a sigh of relief was heard down under after years of declining sales — as well as Italy (+10%) and France (+18%), particularly red wines.
Another trend, heard anecdotally around the world over the past couple of years, is that consumers are continuing to seek out fresher wine styles including lighter reds, sparklers and light wines. Lastly, de-alcoholized wines are well-nigh unstoppable in their growth in popularity, with sales up 126% in 2025. Let us know in the comments if you think WineAlign should be covering this growing category with more regularity.
Breaking Bread & Drinking Pinot Noir with the Mapuche: The Tayu Project
Pouring and passing the ceremonial quinoa beverage in Buchaheico. ©John Szabo
I spent last week in Chile at the invitation of the VSPT wine group (Viña San Pedro-Tarapacà), chiefly to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Tayu project, started in 2015. Tayu brings together the suitably cool climate of the Malleco Valley in southern Chile and pinot noir, a variety that has vastly improved in quality in the country over the last decade. But more significant than just making good wine, Tayu is also the first of its kind: a mutually beneficial collaboration between a major wine company and an indigenous community, the Mapuche of Buchahueico. I wrote about this project in 2021; see the article for the full story: Viña San Pedro’s Tayu: A Good Wine with an Even Better Back Story.
Pedro Izquierdo and the Buchaheico Lonco (elder) ©John Szabo
I was particularly interested in seeing the project in person to gain a fuller understanding of the collaboration and, of course, to taste the wine in situ. I was not disappointed. Our small group of Canadian writers was treated to a Mapuche welcome ceremony and traditional lunch in a ruca, the traditional thatched roof dwelling of these indigenous people, of which there are over one million living in Chile. The Spanish conquistadors never did manage to conquer the Mapuche. Unlike the Inca empire, which had one single absolute monarch called the Sapa Inca and considered a divine descendant of the sun god Inti, each Mapuche community has its own leader, an elder called the “Lonco,” and a spiritual elder called the Machi. The decentralized power and the particular fierceness of the Mapuche people made conquering them a dauting task.
Pouring and passing the ceremonial quinoa beverage in Buchaheico. ©John Szabo
As it is in Canada with the First Nations, the relationship between the Chilean people and the Mapuche is complicated. So, to see one of the country’s largest wine groups embark on such a collaborative project is unusual indeed. In fact, it was, and still is, the only one of its kind. “We thought we would see other companies come and replicate our model,” says Pedro Izquierdo, agricultural consultant for the VSPT Group and the person who dreamt up the collaboration over a decade ago. “But no one else has come yet. I’m not sure why.”
It’s not that the project isn’t working. On the contrary. What started out with just two families and five hectares of vineyards has grown to 11 families and 27.5 hectares, all planted to pinot noir. And it has also spilled over in the neighboring community of Hueicochico and two more families.
Toasting mote over the fire in a ruca in Buchahueico. ©John Szabo
The Chilean government provided grants and materials to establish the vineyards on Mapuche land, and San Pedro the additional loans needed to get the project up and running as well as the expertise to teach the Mapuche people how to farm grapes. San Pedro leases the land from each family on a 10-year contract, and produces the wine, one single bottling called Tayu, which means “ours” in Mapudungun. The first vintage was 2018.
Three families have already repaid the initial loan, with another two set to pay theirs off in 2026, which for San Pedro signals success, and for the families a degree of economic freedom. Once loans are repaid and the contract expires, each family is free to sell their grapes to any other company. “We will always be competitive,” says Izquierdo with a smile, referring to the price San Pedro is willing and able to pay for a kilo of grapes, far higher than the national average. And considering the emotional investment that has been made in the project, it’s hard to imagine these grapes ending up in another company’s vat.
Pedro Izquierdo at the Tayu Vineyard ©John Szabo
The goal behind the project is to provide reasonable livelihoods to the indigenous community and keep them together. Poverty is widespread and young people are left little choice but to leave the community and seek employment elsewhere. “We want to help keep families together and on their own land,” Izquierdo tells us. And from conversations over lunch with various members of the Buchaheico community, there is genuine pride in the work they are doing and a degree of gratitude for the opportunity.
It’s not without some risk, however. I ask one man whether there might be any push back from the more radical Mapuche that he and his family had “sold out” to the big Chilean company from Santiago. “There could be,” he responds with an unexpected degree of seriousness, although so far it has been peaceful. And there are plans to continue slowly expanding the project, incorporating more families and increasing production.
Viviana Navarrete is the winemaker responsible for Tayu, a pinot noir specialist and also chief winemaker for Viña Leyda, the group’s winery in the cool, coastal Leyda Valley where excellent pinot is grown along with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and syrah. One of the more striking comments I recall from our interview in 2021 was how the fruit from Buchahueico is always some of the cleanest and healthiest she sees each year, a fact that she brings up again during the visit. “It’s amazing,” she says. “The pinot needs almost no sorting at the winery. It’s practically perfect.”
Another unexpected outcome is that the team from San Pedro has learned more from the Mapuche than they have taught. “There has been an interchange of culture that nobody expected,” Izquierdo says.
And Navarrete continues: “We have learned to respect the land, and nature, to an incredible degree.” Before each new planting, for example, a ceremony is performed to ask mother earth for permission to grow grapes on the land and use water. It’s similar to the ceremony we experience with the community, led by the Lonco, in which a quinoa-based beverage is poured and shared, including a few drops for mother earth and for the sacred tree in which the Mapuche flag flies.
Navarrete also recalls the first planting back in 2015: “We had planned to go down to Buchaheico during the work week to plant the first vines, you know, but the Lonco (community elder) said no way. ‘Our children, your children, your spouses, have to be here for the ceremony and to plant this land,’ he told us.” With the children obliged to travel far outside of the community for schooling during the week, it was only possible to plant on the weekend when they were back home. “So, we all brought down our kids and spouses for a weekend to plant vineyards,” she says with a laugh.
Navarrete sums it up: “We’re all passionate about the wine business, “but it’s particularly satisfying to be part of this project.”
Viviana Navarrete describes the soils and growing conditions in the Malleco Valley. ©John Szabo
Compared to the pinot from the Leyda Valley, the Tayu pinot from Malleco has a distinctly savoury, herbal taste, much like the wild scrub and forest that surrounds the vineyards on Mapuche land. The mainly granite-derived soils are deep red and rich in iron and quartz, also acidic, which Navarrete credits with “that iron freshness, the long and vibrant palate energy.” Parcels with more quartz show the “quartz effect,” wines with more grip on the palate, more “rustic tannins,” while tart red berry flavours predominate on the fruit side. In the end, a composite blend of all the parcels is made, and just one wine bottled.
Tayu vertical tasting 2018 to 2024. ©John Szabo
We tasted through all the vintages since the first in 2018 (no 2023 was made due to smoke taint from wildfires), and the latest, 2024, is the finest so far, with the 2021 in the best drinking shape now and an excellent wine in its own right. But you can taste for yourself; the 2024 was released on December 6.
Buyer’s Guide Vintages December 6: White
Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2024, Marlborough, New Zealand
$28.95, Connexion Oenophilia
Michael Godel – There is Marlborough sauvignon blanc and then there is Greywacke. May seem absurd to say that the greywacke bedrock is what you smell in this glass but go ahead, put your nose in, use imagination and let that be your guide.
David Lawrason – This is one of the most elegant, refined sauvignons of New Zealand — a category known mostly for electricity and intensity. This is calmer, cooler and more complex, with forward aromas of kiwi, subtle basil/bay leaf herbality, grapefruit rind and yellow pepper. It is medium weight, almost silky, delicate and dry.
John Szabo – Another fine sauvignon from Kevin Judd at Greywacke, with superior density and concentration. Its sweet-and-sour, spicy profile calls a ceviche to the table.
Sara d’Amato – An elevated and engaging sauvignon blanc, consistently well-crafted, and this vintage is no exception. Salty and mineral, with hint of lemon zest, pomelo and stony nuance. Poised and dry but not austere. Clean winemaking highlights its precision while a touch of friendly lees adds just the right sum of body.
Blomidon Chardonnay 2022, Nova Scotia, Canada
$31.95, Le Sommelier Inc.
Sara d’Amato – Deceptively complex, this Annapolis-grown chardonnay features an initial brightness that bleeds into a more balanced palate, touched by French oak and steadily building in intensity. Its Nova Scotia charm shines through in salty, citrus-driven tones and a delicate yet lofty texture shaped by fine lees and well-pitched balance.
Malivoire Forgotten Row Chardonnay 2021, Ontario, Canada
$36.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.
David Lawrason – Made from later picked (forgotten to be picked) grapes this is a very elegant, cushy chardonnay that has real poise and some sophistication. Very much in Malivoire’s calm, cool and collected style. Expect ripe peach pie. Acid is even, alcohol just a bit warm (13.5%).
Domaine Les Vieux Murs Pouilly Fuissé 2023, Burgundy, France
$45.95, Old Cellar Collection
Sara d’Amato – An elegant rendering of southern Burgundy’s richer style of chardonnay hailing from the esteemed Pouilly-Fuiseé appellation. This more poised expression will settle comfortably onto any holiday table, pleasing widely from the refined sipper to the joie-de-vivre enthusiast.
Trius Winery Showcase Blanc De Noirs, Ontario, Canada
$58.00, Andrew Peller Limited
David Lawrason – Very impressed by this laser sparkling wine — a pinot noir chardonnay blanc de noirs aged five years on its lees. Yet it pours quite youthful pale lemon. The nose is complex and sophisticated. It is poised with great acid balance an excellent to outstanding length. Trius was a pioneer of Niagara traditional method; and the experience shows.
John Szabo – Terrific nose here on the ever-reliable Trius traditional method blanc de noirs, one of the pioneers of the genre going back a generation. It’s a particularly elegant rendition of the style; top class bubbles and another showcase win for the winery.
Dog Point Vineyard Chardonnay 2023, Marlborough, New Zealand
$59.95, Connexion Oenophilia
Michael Godel – The “kindel” of Marlborough chardonnay, downright lit, like tinder and a flint about to get together for grand ignition. Imagine a white wine literally taking the oxygen out of the glass and your breath away.
John Szabo – This is so clearly superior wine, at a premium price, but delivering premium quality. The flinty-dusty, reductive style will be polarizing, but I am a big fan of this tightly delineated, not-so-fruity style, like liquid rocks. And you can tuck this in the cellar for another decade without concern.
Buyer’s Guide Vintages December 6: Red
Kilikanoon Killerman’s Run Grenache/Shiraz/Mataro 2023, South Australia, Australia
$19.95, Charton Hobbs
Sara d’Amato – Modern and clean yet bursting with personality, it delivers black and white pepper in a rotundone-fueled display of aromatic energy. The palate is almost kinetic in its refreshment, with chest-warming alcohol providing just the right momentum on the finish extending its length. Ideal alongside minty lamb.
Garage Wine Co. Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, Maule Valley, Chile
$19.95, Nicholas Pearce Wines Inc.
Michael Godel – Toronto native Derek Mossman Knapp’s easy-drinking gift to the market. Come for a glass, stay for the bottle.
Mas Des Bressades Cuvée Tradition 2023, Rhône, France
$19.95, Vinexx
Sara d’Amato – Keeping a few selections of under-$20 bottles on hand over the holidays — perfect for drop-in guests or sneaking sips while prepping in the kitchen — makes the season noticeably more relaxing. Enter an engaging, peppery Costières des Nîmes from the reliably good-value Mas de Bressades. Carefully composed, regionally expressive, and finishing with a flourish of good length, it’s approachable, fun and exactly what you want for the holidays.
La Chevalière Rasteau 2023, Rhône, France
$23.95, Dbino Inc.
David Lawrason – A generous and rich yet precise southern Rhone. Love the sweet and spicy nose of candied plum/strawberry with lilac florals, black pepper, tobacco and brown spices. It is mid-weight, open-knit and a touch sweet but built on a base of earth, stone and dustiness.
John Szabo – A Rasteau with lovely aromatics, perfumed and floral, and very unique I have to say, if a bit chalky on the palate. But flavour depth suggests that harmony will be reach in another year or so. A tidy value all in all.
Perez Cruz Piedra Seca Cabernet Sauvignon 2023, Maipo Valley, Chile
$22.95, Charton Hobbs
David Lawrason – From old vineyards in the sub-Andean property, this delivers classy, calm aromas of crème de cassis, menthol and finely integrated wood spice, tobacco and vanillin. It is quite full bodied, fairly dense and warm and soft, yet quite tannic and mineral. Lamb stew! A lot here for $23.
Santa Maria Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore 2021, Veneto, Italy
$23.95, Woodman Wines & Spirits
David Lawrason – From an estate high in the Valpolicella hills above Negrar, this is a 15% ABV ripasso, re-fermented on the skins of amarone grapes. Often, ripassos are obviously sweetened and hot and jammy, but this is not. The nose is quite calm with classic cherry jam, forest floor, rose and a touch of earth. There is warm and balance, with a sense of authenticity and restraint.
Villacreces Pruno 2022, Ribera Del Duero, Spain
$24.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.
Sara d’Amato – Among an unusually abundant lineup of Ribera del Duero reds, this one spoke to me most. Broody and tannic, it melds strawberry and puckered plum with peppered cherry and a hint of bitter spice, while botanical notes and dried wildflowers add complexity. It’s wildly expressive but will reward patience.
San Pedro 1865 Tayú Pinot Noir 2024, Bío Bío Valley, Chile
$23.95, Philippe Dandurand Wines Ltd.
John Szabo – 2024 is, in my view, the best Tayu yet made from this collaborative project between Viña San Pedro and the indigenous Mapuche community of Buchahuieco in southern Chile, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The vintage was generally cold in the Malleco Valley, resulting in a relatively pale and very pretty, lifted pinot noir, a lovely, lighter, and highly distinctive style all in all. And on top of that, it’s a worthy project to support. Drink with a light chill, now or over the next 2–4 years.
Estate Papaioannou Saint George Agiorgitiko 2019, Peloponnese, Greece
$29.95, The Kolonaki Group
Sara d’Amato – A delightfully balanced equation of power and finesse at a notable value, this carefully crafted organic agiorgitiko from Nemea is gently spiced, carrying levity within its depth, acidic fluidity and gentle evolution. Full-bodied yet approachable, it’s a smooth entry point into the age-worthy reds of Greece.
John Szabo – In excellent shape now, it’s a complex, merlot-like amalgam of dark plummy fruit and strawberry pie alongside well-integrated oak spice giving it a bit of a Spanish inflection. Really fine stuff in a prime drinking window — it will satisfy widely, a discovery for many, a pleasure for all.
P. Ferraud & Fils Domaine Ferraud Les Charmes Morgon 2022, Beaujolais, France
$26.95, Marchands des Ameriques
Michael Godel – Perfumes apropos to Morgon juxtaposed against a firm backdrop as grippy as from any village in Beaujolais. Would have been the ideal turkey wine and still can be, provided that is still your next holiday go to celebration protein.
Vietti Perbacco Nebbiolo 2022, Italy
$42.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.
Sara d’Amato – This nebbiolo declares “special occasion” from first sniff. Aromas of thistle and rosebud are poised atop gentle oak spice, plum, cherry, and strawberry fruit. Crafted with obvious care but not overworked, culminating in very good length and effortless elegance.
John Szabo – Loads of pleasure for nebbiolo fans at an attractive price, easily equal to many a Barolo.
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, South Australia, Australia
$44.95, Mark Anthony Brands
Michael Godel – Seductive varietal perfume, a no-doubter, and built to last a decade and a half. Potentially more.
Thirty Bench Wild Cask Cabernet Franc 2022, Ontario, Canada
$55.00, Andrew Peller Limited
John Szabo – Really lovely cabernet franc here, dark-fruited and gravelly, with terrifically firm and succulent palate. Complexity is excellent and very much in the textbook range for cool climate examples of the variety, properly contained and impeccably made from a great terroir. Drink or hold into the early to mid 2030s I suspect.
Castello Di Bolgheri Varvàra 2022, Tuscany, Italy
$60.95, Sylvestre Wines & Spirits
Michael Godel – Classic, old-school even. A fascinating comparative study would be to taste Varvàra side by side with Tenuta San Guido’s Guidalberto.
John Szabo – The extensive Castello di Bolgheri estate occupies the last kilometer before arriving at the town of Bolgheri, on either side of the famous Viale dei Cipressi. Varvàra is a highly stylish and polished cuvée of mainly cabernet sauvignon with merlot, cabernet franc and a splash of petit verdot, made with evident care and ambition. I appreciate the even-keeled palate with its supple, velvety tannins and gentle, caressing acids framing a mix of ripe red and black fruit and notable and pleasant herbal-vegetal character in the varietal DNA. Drinks well now; or hold into the mid 2030s.
Buyer’s Guide Vintages December 6: Fortified
Barbeito 5 Year Old Malvasia Reserva, Madeira, Portugal
$18.95, Le Sommelier Inc.
John Szabo – I’m a big fan of the Barbeito house style, generally drier than most wines in the same Madeira sweetness categories. This Malvasia, for example, the sweetest of styles, is, in the hands of Barbeito, an almost savoury wine with all of the burnished fruit and caramelized flavours of the genre and terrific sapidity, one which drives desire for additional sips without cloying or tiring. And then, I look at the price, and marvel that such an historic wine of this quality and complexity and pedigree can be had for under $20 a half liter, and I think, yes.
Emilio Lustau Vermut Blanco, Spain
$32.95, John Hanna & Sons
John Szabo – Really delicious white vermouth with fine bitter-sweet balance. It’s a little softer than examples from further north in Europe, but you’ll appreciate it for its Mediterranean charm, also the uncommon saltiness from the base wine grown in these seaside vineyards. Good on its own over ice.
La Chapelle De Lafaurie Peyraguey 2015, Bordeaux, France
$40.95, Dbino Inc.
David Lawrason – Go to school on affordable Sauternes. Now at 10 years of age, the colour has morphed into a deep gold. The nose is classic with dried apricot, marmalade and a touch of mossy botrytis. It is almost treacly thick and very sweet, yet finishing with nicely bitter dried orange, rancio notes.
That’s all for this report, see you ’round the next bottle.
John Szabo, MS
Use these quick links for access to all of our December 6th Top Picks in the New Release. Non-premium members can select from all release dates 60 days prior.
John’s Top Picks – December 6th
Lawrason’s Take – December 6th
Michael’s Mix – December 6th
Sara’s Selections – December 6th
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