Sweet Year For Ice Wine
By Robert K. Stephen
(WINDSOR, ON) – I was up early this winter morning and anxious to see the weather for the day turned on a Buffalonian television station to see a rather intellectual looking horn rimmed bespectacled historian explaining why snowshoeing was such a great sport as it connects humans with the forest and their primal past. I can relate to this as a cross country skier slogging my way through trails with birds and foxes trotting across my path. Winter, which can be a vicious and nasty experience, becomes a delight if you are out and about breathing and living it and perhaps even drinking it. As we get deeper into the cold and invigorating temperatures the desire for light white wines rapidly fades. As winter officially descends upon us what better way to harmonize with the season than with a true winter wine…LENS Icewine! If you can’t beat winter why not join it?
Icewine is really rich and wonderful stuff but what do you drink it with! You can get down and basic and open a bottle mid afternoon from January- February and enjoy it on its own with perhaps some dried figs and walnuts. After this things get more complicated. The rule is that if you are having several wines throughout the day go from light to heavy. So let’s say you were having guests over for New Year’s Eve you would never start with an Icewine as it is a heavy and concentrated wine. Being a big heavy hitter you should end the evening with it. Any dessert with caramel or toffee begs for LENS Icewines! The cardinal rule for dessert wines is that they should always be sweeter than the dessert you are consuming them with and you should match the colour of the wine with the dessert. Based on colour differentials this is why an Icewine should never be paired with chocolate but would be better suited to a mango cheesecake or crème brûlée.
Why the reference to winter and Icewine? It is because the grapes that are used for Icewine are harvested when the temperature reaches -8°C and then are immediately pressed when frozen which separates the juice from the watery ice crystals which means you get the juice without the water you would get if the grapes were pressed when they were not frozen. In a crude sort of way water freezes first leaving the sugary nectar of the grape as the end result. One tonne of frozen grapes yields 100-200 litres of juice but a harvest for regular table wines yields 650-750 litres of juice per tonne of grapes. Is it no wonder then that Icewine is so sweet and so expensive. By the way there is no cheating here as the grape must be naturally frozen on the vine and pressed while the air temperature is – 8°C or lower. No artificial freezing permitted!
The Sprucewood Shores winter nectar has a golden colour with late fall apples on the ground aromas with secondary notes of apricots, chalk, Seville marmalade and that trademark Lake Erie humid summer lake water smell. There was so much apple I almost thought this was a Quebec Pinnacle iced cider. It was luscious, creamy and decadent on the palate which was bursting with fermenting apples, apricots and marmalade. The lack of acidity and too much apple on the nose keeps this wine from being brilliant. In great Icewines there should be some acidic relief from sweetness. Love the unique apple nose and that Lake Erie North Shore summer lake water smell! Get the sweetness under control with more acidity and what potential but until then a pretty solid 89.
The Erie Shore Icewine takes it up a notch with a bit more pronounced acidity than the Sprucewood Shores. It has a lovely dark gold colour. Wonderful aromas of Sultana raisin, Turkish peaches, Samian honey and autumn leaves. Luscious, creamy and thick in texture with strong Jonagold apple and Seville marmalade coating the palate. Long and persistent on the palate. A glass of this goes a LONG way! This winner scores a 92.
CREW’s Gewürztraminer Icewine is a real stunner with rich apricot and honeyed aromas with just a tad of that Lake Erie humid lake smell and some almond paste thrown in. It explodes on the palate with ripe peaches and just a whisper of papaya. Heavenly long finish with thick and creamy texture. Simplicity equals excellence here but oh what heights we could go to with a teeny bit more of acidity! A well deserved 93 and at this price what a steal!
Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery, Vidal Icewine Lake Erie North Shore VQA 2007, 200 ml. 11.5% alcohol, $22.95.
Erie Shore Vineyard , Vidal Icewine Lake Erie North Shore VQA 2006, 200ml., 10% alcohol, $24.95
Colchester Ridge Estate Winery, Gewürztraminer Icewine, Lake Erie North Shore VQA 2008, 200ml , 10.4% alcohol, $20.00
Related posts:
- Best Of 2010
- “Ice” Man Arrested
- Wine And (Grilled) Cheese Party
- Tyler Walton Missing 1 Year
- Canadian Wine In The Desert
Recent Comments