The Foreign Affair Dream 2020

Dream is a partial appassimento blend of Merlot … Cabernet Sauvignon … and Cabernet Franc … with half the Cab Franc dried grapes. The wine spends 18 months in French and American oak (25% new wood). This is a bit more subtle on the nose than the Conspiracy, which suggests a little time in the cellar would be helpful. It has an elegant nose of concentrated cassis, black currants, cocoa, and baking spices. It’s more overt on the palate with ripe tannins, cassis, currants, blackberries, dark cherries, licorice, cedar, and fine oak spice with plenty of acidity keeping the finish lively. Can cellar a few years. Score – 91. (Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com, April 25, 2023)