WTN: 2012 Reif Vidal (Ontario VQA)

The 2012 Reif Vidal pours with a very light, pale greenish straw colour. Initially shy on the nose, the wine showed more of a bouquet a day after being opened and kept in the fridge.

After it warmed up and upon being swirled in the glass, the Vidal revealed clean, light pineapple aromas and a hint of pine needles. The entry is clean, crisp and light; some tangerine rind (common to Vidal table wines) shows up on the fore-palate. Very crisp and dry on the finish, with some warmth rounding it out (12% alc./vol.). Apparently, this wine has 10 g/L of residual sugar (as per the LCBO product description), but it tastes drier.

Overall, this is a light-bodied Vidal. It works really well as an aperitif, but also with any main course calling for a light, dry white wine.

Purchased for $9.95 on general list at the LCBO.

I like to think of Vidal being to Ontario what Grüner Veltliner is to Austria: a regionally recognizable grape that may not be one of the "mainstream" varieties, but that can be counted on to produce quality table wine with a defined character.

Vidal is, in fact, a very versatile grape: it produces everything from icewines to late-harvest wines, off-dry table wines - and dry crisp wines, like this one. It's well worth checking out.

I like Vidal and have been making wine with grapes from the same local grower for about 30 years. In fact, I'll be getting Vidal grapes from him later today. One thing I like about Vidal is that, unlike many hybrids, it's wines have a long, full finish, making it ideal for blending to enhance the mouthfeel in other grapes, even reds. I often blend about 20% into my Cayuga.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the tasting note. Vidal is one of my favorite hybrid wines. I particularly like vidal icewine.

Hey Tom,

Great to hear from you.

I find the Pelee Island Vidal to have a tad more of the mango, tangerine and pineapple on the nose. Otherwise, it's a delightful light wine.

One thing I like about Vidal is that, unlike many hybrids, it's wines have a long, full finish, making it ideal for blending to enhance the mouthfeel in other grapes, even reds. I often blend about 20% into my Cayuga.

Yup, I remember that one red blend of yours. It was very good!

Scotch Block, a local winery up this way, makes a couple of white blends using mainly Cayuga and Vidal. I think the pairing works quite well. Used to be that we'd mainly see Seyval and Vidal together, but most of the Seyval seems to have gone extinct. Well, in Niagara anyway. There's at least one winery up near Georgian Bay that makes varietal Seyval, but availability is winery-only.