Tasting Note – I have tasted this wine three times in recent weeks, and been charmed every time. I selected it as a definitive example of modern Niagara cab franc for a tasting of the National Capital Sommelier Guild in Ottawa in September. It has such a pretty, perfumed nose of sweet rose florals, raspberry, tobacco and subtle barrel spice.  On the palate it is so tender, fresh, warm and engaging with succulent acids and juicy fruit. Alcohol is perfectly pitched at 13.1%. Tannins are very fine grained, but I would still age it, ideally, another two years. The length is excellent to outstanding. So full of life yet somehow demure.

Backgrounder – Kelly Mason purchased this ten-acre site in 2012, with high yielding vines dating from the nineties. She began to convert it to organic, lower yielding viticulture, selling her grapes until opening Mason Vineyard in 2021. She hand-harvests and hand-sorts her fruit. Fermentations are always with wild yeasts, avoiding manipulation and intervention.  This wine was picked fairly late on November 2. It was barrel aged for 17 months in 10% new French oak, 10% second fill, 30% third fill and remainder in neutral oak. Kelly says she was “Pleasantly surprised with how it aged in barrel, becoming complex, layered and earthy. A super example as to why Niagara should keep growing Cabernet Franc!” The 2022 vintage of The Landing was reviewed in February 2026 by Janet Dorozynski.