Reif white wines
Tuesday, November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day in England, and US Presidential election Day – both explosive): Tasted 6 Reif Estate wines.
Reif Estate Winery Pinot Grigio Reserve 2023 (Niagara River)
Light copper in colour; spicy, minerally, white peach and melon bouquet; medium-bodied, dry, well-balanced, peach and melon flavours finishing on a lively acidic note. Ready for drinking. (90)
Reif Estate Winery Chardonnay Reserve 2023 (Niagara River)
Light golden colour with a hint of lime; toasty, spicy, vanilla, yellow apple nose; medium to full-bodied, dry, apple flavour with well-integrated oak; rich mouth-feel with a firm finish. Drink now and through 2025. (90)
Reif red wines
Reif Estate Winery Merlot 2021 (Niagara Peninsula)
Deep ruby in colour with a mature rim; vanilla, cedar, ripe plum nose with oak spice; medium-bodied, dry, savoury, dried red fruit flavour with a suggestion of oak. Drink now and through 2025. (89)
Reif Estate Winery Reif Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 (Niagara Peninsula)
Deep purple-ruby colour; cedary, vanilla, blackcurrant bouquet with a light floral note; medium-bodied, dry, blackcurrant and blueberry flavours carried on fresh acidity. The oak is deftly handled, adding a roundness to the wine. Worth holding for a year before opening. (89–91)
Reif Estate Winery Cabernet Franc Reserve 2020 (Niagara River)
Deep purple-ruby colour; cedary, spicy, vanilla nose of ripe plums; medium-bodied, dry, well-extracted plum and blueberry flavours with well-integrated oak and ripe tannins. A well-balanced wine. Hold 1–2 years. (90)
Reif Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2019 (Niagara Peninsula)
Deep ruby with a mature rim; cedary, blackcurrant bouquet with oak spice and a floral top note; medium to full-bodied, dry, red and blackcurrant flavours with a saline note. Nicely judged oak. Can be opened now but will reward 1–2 years in your cellar. (89–91)
Friday, November 10th: Drove to Costco in Grimsby to check out the wines they have newly listed. Interested to see that our current House white is available there – Henry of Pelham “The Goat Lady” Chardonnay 2023 ($16), as well as Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Marlborough, New Zealand ($21.66), and Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Marlborough ($21.66), which I bought. Also available, Inniskillin Autumn Riesling, Veuve Clicquot, Frescobaldi Castiglioni 2023, and Masi Campofiorin 2020.
The Campofiorin brought back a lot of memories. This was the first Italian red wine I ever bought. It was 1970 and I was living in London, England. The Sunday Times Wine Club was offering the first vintage of a new wine – Campofiorin 1967, chosen by Hugh Johnson. According to their website, “The origins of Masi’s innovative ‘Super Venetian’ Campofiorin go back to the traditional practice of ‘ripasso’, the re-fermenting of new vintage Valpolicella on the fresh, moist pomace of Amarone. The complex transformation that follows produces a wine that acquires structure and aroma from the pressed skins of the Amarone, while retaining the freshness of the younger wine: a rural practice that is, in the words of Masi President Sandro Boscaini, ‘simple but at the same time ingenious.’ That first vintage of Campofiorin came out in 1967 and was met with immediate critical acclaim. Burton Anderson [who wrote the seminal book on Italian wine] described it as ‘a prototype for a new style of Veronese red’, and so the much-emulated Campofiorin proved to be in the years that followed.”
I have always loved Campofiorin and have been privileged to have tasted it with Sandro Boscaini at his winery on several occasions – and have seen Sandro many times on his visits to Canada. The last time we met in Veneto was 2014 with my family. My grandson, Declan, is seen here admiring a Jeroboam of Masi Costasera Amarone 2007.
Declan at Masi
Also tasted this week: Pesquera Janus 1994, Thirty Bench Small Lot Riesling “Wood Post Vineyard” 2019, Lighthall Pinot Gris 2022 (Prince Edward County), Stoneleigh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023.
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