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11 reviews for Reif Estates Winery
11 reviews in English
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Review from Dave M.
2/25/2012
Reif was a treat of a winery. By far the most memorable on the tour, mostly due to our visit being perfectly timed.
The property is beautiful, and the wine tasting area is incredibly spacious. It looks like the type of spot that would be great to have a party.
Our wine taste expert was the infamous Archie, a wonderfully kind and informative man, with a bitchin' Civil War-esque twisty mustache.
Not only was the wine delish, we were treated to the beautiful sound of an Italian man singing his ass off in the other room. They had some kind of thing coming up, and the man was rehearsing. Whatever the event was, the audience must have enjoyed it. The singer was booming and emotional, like the Italian Michael Bolton, only without all of the qualities of Michael Bolton that make me all stabby.
Anyway, make sure Reif is one of your wine tour stops! -
Review from Yi Z.
4/9/2012
Reif is one of the oldest wineries in the region and the wines are some of the best. The tasting room was well-staffed and the gentleman who poured our samples was very friendly and knowledgeable. I tried my best to pay attention but we had already visited several other wineries by this point so I had a hard time concentrating. I would suggest Reif as an earlier stop because it really is a fantastic place.
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Review from Maheen M.
9/11/2011
Reif was one of the 5 wineries I visited on my latest Niagara on the Lake adventure day. It was by far my favourite, my friend and I were greeted and directed to the sampling area where we got to try a complimentary wine tasting. Archie our wine expert, helped us out with the various wines they offered. For 3 samples, it was $5 which included an ice wine!
We ended up buying some cheese and crackers and hanging out in their side garden/porch area in the sun. After 15 minutes of ordering, we had not received our cheese plate and I went back in to check. The cashier was alarmed that I had not received the cheese plate and went to check where things were left out. He came back with two glasses of wine for the trouble. What great service!
The side garden/porch area was a lovely area. We could have been there all day.
If you are checking out wineries in the Niagara on the Lake area, make sure to make Reif one of your stops.Listed in: Niagara Area, Vino! Wineries!
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Review from Renata R.
9/24/2011
Found this place during a wine tour to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Make sure you buy your favourites, as it's hard to find their wines at LCBO and, man, they are really good! They WON'T offer their gems at the tasting, and it'll only cost you $1 to try!
Go for the Shiraz - "The Magician" - and the late harvest, you won't be disappointed. And of course Ice Wine. Prices are good! -
Review from David J.
2/21/2012
My Fiance and I stopped at about 4 wineries on our little wine tour while staying in Niagara Falls. We wanted to find nice wineries and avoid the ones with tour buses in front.
The winery was very nice and laid back. Our sommelier was fantastic with his knowledge of wines. He taught us more about the properties and etiquette of wine than anyone else.
The Niagara wineries can't compare to the California ones, but they did provide a nice wine selection and offered the Ice wines which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Reif was the best of the ones we went to and was the only place where we purchased wines to take with us.
When we come back to Niagara we will be sure to stop at Reif once again. -
Review from Kat K.
8/24/2011
This place is located between Inniskillin and Peller Estates on the Niagara Parkway; right next to the Grand Victorian B & B.
Reif is a popular stop for the wine tours by bus, but I prefer biking over, if you're doing a weekend getaway. Decor wise, it's a swanky wine boutique, but it's worth a stop; the wines are decent, plus the wine list tells you which ones are the ones you can pick up at the LCBO, plus the stock number (helpful)
Now to get into the nitty-gritty:
Their wines are middling to decent. The decent ones you can more or less find @ the LCBO; but the reason why you should stop here is for the Wine Sensory Garden; which is just off to the side of the wine boutique. There is some seating, where you can take a breather prior to moving on to the next winery.
The Boutique itself is pretty nice with two cash registers to the front of the store, and the wine bar is the centre piece. As I stated before their wines are middling to ok, if you're wine tasting, I suggest sticking with their white wines as Reif produces more wines in the German style. The staff are good at trying to give you the best experience, since they ask questions as to what your likes and dislikes are; so you aren't going in completely blind.
There is plenty of parking for cars, buses and at least two racks to park your bike. -
Review from James K.
Toronto, ON
12/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
Archie made our day. Highly recommended tasting bar.
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Review from Jenn T.
6/20/2011 3 photos
We stopped in here on our latest wine and theater journey to NOTL, and we were not disappointed! I'm always a little hesitant when walking into the giant wineries (our home base for wine tasting is Central Coast, where most of the winemaker gems are smaller, more intimate vineyards), but this place was just great.
First of all, we were taking my parents up to Canada for their 60th birthdays, and it was their first wine tasting experience. I have to give soooo much credit and thanks to Pia, our Wine Consultant, who took the time to explain so much to my basic-beer-drinker dad! He went in thinking he'd never find a wine he liked, and came out with a few bottles and a new attitude. Pia knew exactly what questions to ask to help him find something he'd love, and we really appreciated her dedication to sharing her love of wine! My dad went in with an 'I only drink beer, not wine' attitude and left going on and on about how much he loved the wine that 'finished with a taste of pineapple.' We were impressed. :)
Also, the prices at Reif are just awesome. You can pick up a bottle of almost any varietal for less than $20. Once you get into their reserve and icewines, the prices do go up a little, but still. Truly among the best prices for NOTL wines.
We got a bottle of the Magician, which is a shiraz/pinot noir blend, which is a little rare in NOTL, since the grapes for shiraz do not grow particularly well in that climate. We're saving it for some cooler temperatures, but I think it will go just perfectly with some pork in the fall!
In addition, much of the staff is multi-lingual. While we were there, a German tourist group was just finishing up their tasting, and their Wine Consultants were speaking German to them. We were super impressed with the attention to detail.
The grounds are just beautiful, so bring your camera for some great vineyard shots. And ask your B&B hosts, or look around in town, as there are coupons for free tastings, including samples of their icewine.
We will certainly be back next summer! -
Review from Todd V.
Toronto, ON
10/17/2008
There are all kinds of great wineries to be found in the Niagara area and they are not always the larger ones. In fact, the smaller ones are where you're going to find some of the better wines that are available in the area. On a recent tour of the wineries in the region I came across the Rief estates, a winery I had never heard of up until seen yet.
As soon as you enter the winery you are faced with a long counter with many a bottle on it and people behind the counter more than willing to help you drink it. The wines themselves are fruity and robust and have found their way back into my wine list whenever I find them. This being the first winery that we visited we figured they would be many that would surpass it later. This was pretty much not the case. This is a great place to begin you're willing to work or two and it.
Make sure you get a bottle of the ice wine. You won't be disappointed. -
Review from Jessica B.
5/12/2011
Great little winery with almost too many wines to choose from! While nothing was stellar, nothing was terrible either. The only wine that stood out to hubby and I was the Vidal Blanc. At $9.75 a bottle, it was too inexpensive not to buy. It's worth checking out, there's probably something for everyone on their massive wine list but for me it was a run of the mill winery.
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Review from Ann S.
2/15/2010
Loved Reif Estates Winery!
We visited during the Ice Wine Festival - the winery was serving pulled pork sandwiches (YUM!) along with samples of their ice wine. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable.
We visited several wineries during the festival using Discovery passes. The discovery pass events are _supposed_ to be a $10 value. This is one of only two places to which we would return. Most places barely gave enough wine to taste with a bite of food that was equally inadequate to test the pairing. Reif gave a whole sandwich, maybe slider sized, but we felt we were getting a good deal.
We bought a lot of wine from Reif!
