Billy's Best Bottles, 2009 edition

Wine fans in Ontario should make this an annual purchase: Billy's Best Bottles: Wines for 2009. It's far and away the most convenient guide to what is available in the LCBO. Billy concentrates on the wines that deliver high value for the money, including many wines under $12.

This year's volume is now perfect-bound, rather than having a spiral binding, so it's a bit less easy to use but won't snag on things as easily as the earlier editions could do.

He's changed the organization a bit this year, although he still groups the wines into appropriate categories:

• Fresh White: zesty, thirst-quenching wines.
• Nice White: everyday white wines for comfortable sipping.
• Rich White: luxurious whites for rich foods.
• Lively Red: picnic, lunch, or party red wines.
• Rustic Red: red wines to go with pizza, pasta, or burgers.
• Rich Red: serious, hefty wines to have with steak.
• Sweet Wines: after-dinner or dessert wines.

Within the categories, he's now listing the wines by country of origin . . . just as they're located at your local LCBO outlet. This does make it easier for the obsessive-compulsive buyer to locate individual wines . . . and almost everything he lists will be stocked at most stores. The few that are not at your local store can be ordered in (this is a standard, although not well-known service of the LCBO).

For folks in other provinces, most of the wines can be ordered using the CSPC number listed with the wine (or at least they can tell you if the wine is available in your area).

It's not an Ontario version of Robert Parker's tome, but I think it's far more practical. There's a lot of boring wine at the LCBO, and you can avoid a lot of it by following Billy's recommendations.