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- Welcome to our holiday gift preview.
I'm Todd Bliss.
- And I'm Marie Cundari,
and we're thrilled to be here
to give you a sneak preview of the LCBO'S hottest gifts
for the holiday season.
- We're getting ready for the holidays,
and we're excited about
sharing time with friends and family once again.
Marie, as I was getting ready today,
I was really excited to share this day with you.
You look beautiful, by the way.
- Thank you, Todd. - All set for the season.
We're really ready for the season as well,
and we're excited to share a gift preview
of all the gifts that we have at LCBO.com,
and in our stores.
Marie, why do LCBO gifts make the perfect present?
- Well, Todd, I think it's because
when you give an LCBO gift,
you're not just giving someone
the perfect whiskey, wine, or beer gift.
It's the gift of good cheers.
And it's that chance to create a special moment
and celebrate with family and friends.
And I think we can all agree,
after the last year and a half,
we're looking forward to this now more than ever.
- Well said, Marie.
Before we get started with those gifts, though,
we should share what we're enjoying in our glasses today.
- Yeah, for sure, Todd,
so here we have a fizzy sparkling water and a mocktail,
a great host hack when you're entertaining.
Have some mocktails
or non-alcoholic sparkling beverages on hand.
You can take part in toasting and sipping,
while still enjoying responsibly.
- Beautiful, great host hack Marie.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
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Okay, Marie, let's dive into some trends.
What is the biggest trend in gifting this year?
- Well Todd, I would say experiential gifts
are a huge trend this year.
And of course it's all about the experience.
So whether that's mixing, tasting,
or sharing with family and friends,
these gifts create those special moments.
- Love it.
The good example of this
is the JP Weiser's Whisky Blending Kit.
You get five small bottles of whiskey here,
and you can become your own master blender
and really learn the blending process.
There will also be a virtual tasting
airing on November 17th.
Give that information to your gift recipient
and create that totally experiential gift.
- I love that, that's so innovative and interactive.
Okay, so another cool gift idea
are alcohol-based advent calendars.
So I love this one here,
it's a northern lights-inspired advent calendar
from Jackson Triggs.
It's an online exclusive,
and it features 12 bottles
of a variety of different wines.
I just think it's such a fun way to, you know,
countdown that anticipation of the holiday season
in an adult way.
- Very fun.
We have our brunch lovers and our cocktail makers
on our gift list.
So this is from Matt and Steve's,
they're famous for their extreme bean garnish.
So if they've got their Caesar kit in here,
which includes the rimmer, the extreme been garnish,
and then two flavours of their Caesars.
So really, really exciting for those brunch lovers
on your list
and create those brunch experiences.
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All right Marie, what's another classic gifting theme
for this holiday?
- So, I would say it's all about those holiday flavours.
Think of peppermint, mulled wine and eggnog.
It's those flavours that really conjure up
that holiday feeling.
So here we have this new ready-to-drink,
Twisted Shotz gift set.
It comes with little plastic cups
that combine two yummy flavours.
It basically tastes like you're eating a box of chocolates,
really delicious, and it's small,
so it could act as a stocking stuffer as well.
Next up we have Smirnoff Peppermint Twist,
quite literally a twist on the classic Smirnoff.
It even has a scratch and sniff label,
so it's really fun and interactive.
- I made a peppermint martini with this before.
- Oh, delicious.
And finally,
we can't forget about those craft beer lovers on our list.
We have this porter-style ale from Muskoka Brewing
and it tastes like a Nanaimo bar.
So again, a really unique holiday flavour.
- I love those flavours, and so classic.
We also have really all of your favourites,
whether it's Bailey's cream liqueurs, Kahlua,
and a lot of other holiday flavours at the LCBO this holiday.
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All right, Marie, let's move on to local products.
I love giving the gift of local,
and this is coming out of Almonte, Ontario
from the Dairy Distillery.
They create Vodkow Vodka,
and this is their Vodkow ready-to-drink,
collaborating with coffee,
chocolate and maple syrup producers,
you can drink this on ice,
or you can enjoy it in coffee and it's ready to drink.
- That sounds delicious.
I'd love to have some of that in coffee.
We also have an incredible selection
of local Ontario craft beer gifts.
We love this one from Henderson Brewing
right here in Toronto.
It's the Moving Pictures Ale,
and it features the album cover, the 40th anniversary,
from the Canadian band Rush.
So if you have a music lover on your list,
they would love to receive this gift.
We also have this IPA Funbox from Refined Fool Brewing,
located in Sarnia, Ontario.
It features six different IPAs
and it just makes a great local gift.
- Love those beer gifts.
I also love the Sandbanks two-pack,
one versatile white, one versatile red.
We all have those experiences
of visiting wine country with friends and family.
Here's the opportunity to reminisce
and remember those moments together,
and also celebrate those local VQA wines.
- And there really is nothing better
than giving the gift of local.
And you can feel good when you buy a local gift,
knowing that you're supporting your local communities.
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Okay, Todd.
So what do we have for the whiskey lover on everyone's list?
- Well, whiskey is always trending
and we've got some great Irish whiskey.
So this is the Writer's Tears,
and it's a great copper pot distilled whiskey.
This gift pack comes with the small flask,
a really great gift.
It is an online exclusive, so order this one early
and don't be disappointed by not getting that
for your whiskey lover.
- Yeah, for sure.
In addition to Irish whiskeys, of course,
we have an amazing selection of scotch gifts,
really like this little scotch gift here
from the Regions of Scotland whiskey tasting set,
it allows the gift recipient to taste single malts
from all five regions.
So a very cool little gift set here.
For that whiskey lover
that loves that smokey, peaty style of scotch,
we have the Bowmore 15 from the Islay region.
It comes with two beautiful whiskey tumblers.
Both of these gifts are online exclusives.
So again, you'll want to order those soon.
- Yeah, great point.
So, circle December 16th on your calendar,
that's the last date to get your products to you
for the holiday timeframe,
and order up early.
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All right, Marie, I am really excited about this.
I love hearing about premium wines from you.
Tell us about the premium wines
that you're going to give as gifts this year.
- Love the enthusiasm, Todd.
So, I am really excited to share with you
our gifting selection of wines for the holiday season.
I know working in the wines category,
it can be a little bit intimidating,
giving a gift of premium wine for someone
that knows a lot about wine.
So if you want to be confident
in giving a gift of premium wine this season,
I would recommend the Val Di Suga
Brunello di Montalcino gift set.
It's three different bottlings from the same producer
in the Brunello di Montalcino region of Italy.
These wines are bright, big, juicy, wonderful food wines,
and they come in this wonderful wooden crate.
If you really wanted to amp up and elevate this gift,
you could even pair it with some Italian charcuterie
or nice cheeses too.
- Excellent.
- And moving on to California,
we have some lovely magnums,
here we have the Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon.
One of the iconic producers of the California wine region.
Trust me, any wine enthusiast
would be thrilled to receive that as a gift.
And finally, we have the Taylor Fladgate vintage Port.
This is a really popular gift,
especially at this time of year.
It's a great value and a really unique package.
- Well, you didn't disappoint,
I love all those recommendations.
I love magnums as part of entertaining
and that moment that you can create with your guests.
We also have lots of Vintages Essentials
that are always available,
and we've got our Vintages gift packaging,
the wooden box that elevates them.
We love premium wines at the LCBO,
so enjoy giving these gifts.
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Okay, sparkling is all the rage.
I'm dying to hear how you're going to celebrate
and gift with bubbles this holiday.
- Who doesn't love bubbles, Todd?
- Who doesn't?
- Okay, so the hottest category in sparkling wine right now
is the new Prosecco Rose DOC category.
So what we have here are Prosecco producers
and they're adding in the Pinot narrow grape,
that's red Pinot Noir from Italy,
and the combination is this beautiful pink, fruity,
refreshing sparkling wine.
We love this Bottega version here, gorgeous package.
Another recommendation is this Freixenet
Italian sparkling rose.
It's a beautiful crystal-like packaging here.
If you add a bow, a little gift tag,
you're ready to go to the party.
- Beautiful.
And we love champagne, of course.
We can't talk about bubbles without talking about champagne.
And the Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label is a classic.
We have a customer favourite, which is this insulated jacket.
Chill the product and it'll stay cold for up to two hours
and add our "gift of good cheers" gift tag
to really tell that story
about the moment that you're trying to create,
but a real ready-to-go gift for champagne, for sure.
- Yeah, that's a great gift.
And you know, sparkling wine is such a great gift as well
to have on hand
for those, you know, last minute gifts,
the hairdresser, teacher, your dog walker.
We have some great mini options.
Here from Bottega, we have the Spumante rose gold,
we also have the gold Prosecco in a mini bottle.
These make fantastic stocking stuffers.
And if sparkling is not your thing,
of course we have a great selection of mini bottles
available in store and online at the LCBO.
- I love these minis and hosting with these minis.
I love to use them as place cards,
and kind of give everybody their curated flavour
based on, you know, what the things that they like,
and on the back of it, you can tell a story.
It's that (speaking foreign language),
or how do you say it, Marie?
(speaking foreign language)
- It's the gift that you get to take home
at the end of the night.
- I love that. - But I love
that personalization that you're suggesting,
it really elevates the whole dining table experience.
- Absolutely.
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- Marie, thank you
for sharing this first gathering of the season with me.
I love all of the gift picks that we shared today.
- Oh, thank you so much, Todd.
It was such a pleasure being together with you here today.
And we have so many more gift options,
available both in store and online.
We have multiple delivery options,
including home delivery, ship to store,
and even same day pickup for those last minute gifts.
- I love it,
and don't forget our gift packaging,
making it very easy to gift at the LCBO,
and also LCBO gift cards.
Who doesn't love an LCBO gift card?
- The gift that keeps giving.
Marie one more toast before we go.
Thank you, happy holidays to you and your family
and to all of you as well.
- Cheers. - Happy holidays Todd, thanks.
(glasses clink) Cheers.
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