Another “First” for the Reif Estate
Winery in the Niagara Wine Region.
I still remember the first “First” –
the first harvest of the grapes for Icewine. At that time I was
privy to witness the harvest of the frozen grapes that were
needed to create this delicious beverage.
 The temperatures were well below zero in
Niagara-on-the-Lake – I think it was at least about minus 15 C
when I arrived at the winery and I was just in time to accompany
Klaus Reif, the owner, to see how the frozen grapes were
collected from the vines out in the vineyard. That was an
experience I would not ever like to repeat and I pitied the
workers that were doing the harvesting. Some of the grapes had
already been brought into the winery earlier this morning for
the initial pressing, and Klaus wanted to be there, rather than
out here in the field.
After a while Klaus came in – very agitated and excited and
said: “140 Öchsle” – the measure for sugar content in the
pressed juice, he explained.
That was the first “First” – the birth of Icewine! (Now
everybody is doing it!)
The second “First” came just recently, when I heard that Klaus
Reif is also making Raisins. I called Klaus at the Winery and
asked him about his latest adventure. He told me that his friend
John Klassen mentioned that his grapes were ripe, but that the
Supermarkets did not want them anymore. So Klaus told him to
bring them over, and said “We will try to make raisins”.
Wine is made from grapes with seeds, while raisins are made from
seedless grapes. Most raisins are made from green grapes but the
Niagara raisins are made from red grapes. Klaus and his
winemaker Roberto DiDomenico had located some refurbished
tobacco-kilns in the area, and – since the tobacco industry was
being downsized - bought two of them to turn those plump, juicy
Sovereign Coronation grapes into raisins. Since the grapes
apparently did not care if the heat came from the sun or from
the gas-fired kiln, they dried into large, plump, dark raisins.
Klaus also mentioned that local merchants – especially up-scale
restaurants – are now using his raisins to enhance some fare in
their establishments. Some say that the raisins are sweeter,
tastier and plumper than your regular raisins and you don’t have
to reconstitute them to be juicy. Last year the winery produced
two tons and will be trying to double that for this year. Klaus
also mentioned that he will be trying to expand into food
markets and high-end stores in the future and maybe soon they
will also be available in Toronto.
Now I am wondering what the third “First” will be – maybe the
inclusion in Granola Bars!
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