From fifth-generation family-owned businesses comes a convenient gift pack of Padró & Co. vermouth and one exceptional Valserrano Rioja Gran Reserva.

It’s holiday season at the LCBO, and here’s a perfect pair of gift ideas from Spain—one a splashy five-star wine for someone special, and the other a very cool (and affordable) vermouth giftpack for cocktail lovers.

Let’s get to the latter first. Vermouth has been gradually gaining in popularity in Canada, especially in the context of craft cocktails and the growing interest in more sophisticated drinking experiences. (Think martini, negroni, manhattan, etc. etc.) While it may not be as mainstream as other spirits like whiskey or vodka, vermouth has carved out a niche in our vibrant cocktail culture.

That trend makes this 4 x 50ml gift pack from Padró & Co. ($22.95 at the LCBO) a novel holiday gift. I love the packaging—the wooden graphic of the cardboard box is an ode to the distinctive wooden crates Padró & Co. uses for its four x 750 ml bottle gift cases. And the bottles themselves, decorated with golden arabesque motifs, are eye-catching.

The wine- and vermouth-making origins of the Padró family business date back to 1886 in the northeastern Spain village of Bràfim, about 75 minutes west of Barcelona.

Below is a look at each of the contents, while cocktail recipes can be found here.

A quick synopsis. The Blanco Reserva is infused with aromatic herbs and a variety of citrus peels. After months of maceration, they add an aged sweet wine (white mistela). It’s aromatically intense, with sweet herbs, marmalade and lemon notes. The taste is well-rounded with a slight sweetness and bitterness playing off each other, with that citrus element assuring a fresh acidity.

The Rojo Clasico reportedly pays tribute to the vermouth originally sold from wine cellars and enjoyed religiously every Sunday at noon in Spain. On the nose, it’s quite herbal with red berries, sweet spices, cinnamon and clove.

For the copper-hued Reserva Especial, a key ingredient is a sweet regional liqueur wine aged for five years in 7,000-litre oak vats that have been used at the winery for generations. There’s a sweetness on the nose that’s hard to pin down, along with hazelnuts, fig, dark chocolate and medicinal notes. On the palate, it starts warm and rich, with liqorice and more dark chocolate and hazelnuts, with a long, smooth, bitter finish.

Last is the Dorado Amargo Sauve. “Dorado Amargo” translates to “golden bitter,” and that’s what you get here. Aged in chestnut barrels and a glowing natural amber in colour, its key ingredient is gentian, often called “bitter wort” or “bitter root.” The base wine for this vermouth is a well-structured Macabeo, the neutral character of which allows the exceptionally bitter herbs to play their pivotal role. There’s a Christmas cake nose to this molasses-coloured vermouth, with notes of orange peel and plums. In the mouth, though, this is surprisingly balanced in its bittersweet nature, with a refreshing and elegant finish despite it being a little heavy in character, with that bitter orange peel still evident.

A RIOJA STAR

Among the blessings of wines from Spain at the LCBO is the frequent opportunity to sample well-aged reds without taking out a second mortgage. Here’s one of those opportunities from Valaserrano, another fifth-generation family-owned winery.

La Marquesa Valserrano Rioja Gran Reserva 2016 — Rioja, Spain ($60)
Valserrano’s vineyards occupy absolutely prime Rioja—nestled on the limestone ridges of the Alavesa region. Tempranillo-dominant with a dose of graciano grapes, this wine is only produced in exceptional years—2016 was one of those vintages. Aged for a minimum of two years in American and French oak and more than three additional years in Valserrano’s bottle cellar, this one was bottled back in July 2019. The result of that time and energy is dense blackcurrant and blackberry fruit, with further notes of cinnamon, white pepper, bay leaf, rosemary and cedar. It’s silky on the palate but with plenty of acidity to keep it in harmony, while delivering a long, salivating finish—this is no heavy California-type cabernet here. 14.5% alc. 6 g/L sugar. For what it’s worth, this received a 97 at the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards. It gets a lofty 93 here.