Niagara calls

I don't get out to the Niagara region as often as I should, so every time I arrive again I'm all like, "What? That only took an hour?" And then every time I leave I think, "That was awesome. Why don't I get out to Niagara more often?"

On my latest visit, I stopped by a few wineries that I hadn't been to before, including Reif Estate, owned by Klaus Reif, a 13th-generation winemaker who immigrated to Canada from Germany in the early 1980s and bought his uncle's vineyard about a decade later.

"I fell in love with the greens and blues and big open spaces of Niagara," he said as he toured me around his cellar. The four massive oak barrels I saw were brought over from Germany, and hold 10,300 litres of wine. At Reif they produce 600 tons of grapes (mostly Vidal), and do everything themselves, from growing the grapes to bottling, label design and delivery. They've also started producing the first-ever Canadian raisins.

When I was there, I enjoyed a food and wine tasting at their new Sensory Wine Bar, where I sipped four glasses of different icewines, each paired with a sampling of something local and delicious, from cheese to chocolate, to this roasted butternut squash soup, provided by another great Niagara find, the Pie Plate Bakery and Café.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
by Ruth Anne Schriefer of the Pie Plate Bakery and Café
Ingredients:
- 4 lbs of whole butternut squash
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
- ½ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup Reif Estate Vidal Icewine

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Cut butternut squashes in half length-wise and remove seeds. Place squash cut side down on roasting pan and cook in preheated oven until tender (about 45 minutes to an hour). Scoop out roasted squash and set aside.
2. In a large pot, sauté onion in butter over medium heat for about five minutes or until lightly browned. Add nutmeg, roasted squash, vegetable or chicken broth, apple and apple cider.
3. Bring to a boil until apples are cooked, then purée and thin down if necessary with more cider or broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add ¼ cup Reif Estate Vidal Icewine to the pot in the last few moments, or drizzle it over each soup bowl as a garnish.

- Amy Rosen, National Post - Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2011
- Amy Rosen is the food editor at Canadian House & Home magazine.