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Canadian
Icewine
Best Niagara wines
What is Ice wine? Making and How to Buy Ice Wine Online
The major difference between Icewine and other dessert wines is the acidity.
History of Ice wine
Icewine, Ice wine or Eiswein was discovered by German vine farmers from Franconia in 1794, as they wanted to rescue suddenly frozen grapes.
European immigrants brought the craft of making this rare dessert wine to the North America, Canada and Niagara region.
In 1980s farmers from Ontario, Canada realized that they have a perfect condition for growing such grapes, because of its location, climate and weather.
Hillebrand Estates winery from Niagara on the Lake was pioneer in making Ice wine in 1983. They have produced award winning wine that has brought many medals from world's competitions. Now, Hillebrand Icewine includes Vidal, Riesling and Cabernet Franc vine.
You can even buy Ice wine online through many virtual stores.
Making Ice wine is Challenging
The perfect time for Ice wine grape harvesting is when the extreme temperatures arrive. The harvesting season starts in October, but grapes on the vines will be untouched till wintertime, when the optimal temperature of -8 C degrees is achieved.
Water
content inside the grapes will freeze, leaving only small high quality
drops of juice, highly concentrated with sugars, acid and extracts. The result of this natural process is a wine with unique intensified aroma, complexity and honey-like sweetness.
Ice wine pickers will arrive, usually in the middle of the night, occupy the vineyards and the harvest of the frozen clusters will start. Frozen grapes are being handpicked, immediately pressed to capture thick, yellow gold and intense liquid, full of natural sugar.
The whole wine making process has to be precisely organized, with a special attention on a temperature drop; frozen grapes will be pressed while frozen and transported to the local wineries immediately.
After that, it takes several months for fermentation and aging in stainless steel containers at cold temperature.
Note: Per Canadian VQA standards, artificial freezing of the grapes is strictly prohibited.
Types of Ice Wine
Ice wine superb quality brings Niagara wines and wineries a world recognition and many medals and awards on different wine competitions.
This Canadian Ice wine is always produced as varietal, and majority are being made from Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Vidal, but can include Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and other.
Since Riesling and Gewurztraminer grape varieties have the ability to withstand the most inhospitable cold winter conditions, they make the best Icewines.
How to serve Ice wine
Icewine as a dessert wine is typically enjoyed on its own as an aperitif, as a compliment to a special desserts, as the ingredient (find popular Ice wine recipes) and brilliantly matched with variety of cheeses.
Niagara Ice wine is intense, sweet and sumptuous, and balanced with brilliant acidity at the same time, creating a unique sensation on the palate. As it is concentrated, the wine needs to be poured in small portions and should be given special consideration when combining with different foods.
This smooth and rich Niagara wine is best when it's served icy cold and sipped before dessert or even with a dessert.
- Chill the bottle to the temperature of 5-10 degrees C. It takes from 1.5 to 3h, in a fridge.
- Serve 30 to 60 ml per person in a small tulip-shaped white wineglass.
- Icewine as a dessert wine can also be served as the aperitif. It has a delicious aroma, and gives a taste of a fruit punch.
- It generally goes well with aged cheeses like cheddar or blue cheese. Since this wine is super sweet, be careful when pairing with a dessert. The rule is: have the wine be sweeter than the dessert.
- Wine is made from white varieties; it tends to
be pale yellow or
light gold in color when they are young, or a deep amber-golden color
as they age. The red varieties tend to have a light burgundy or pink
color like rose wines.
More on how to serve Ice wine... find out here on Inniskilin website.
Keep in mind, that this Niagara Jewel wine is expensive (around $40 CAN for small bottle). There are many reasons why the most famous of Niagara wines has the higher price; from quality to hard workmanship and cruel natural unpredictable conditions.
- Grapes are in a mercy of the nature (weather and birds are the biggest enemies of the Ice wine); even at the end of the harvest it is hard to say about quantity and quality of the fruit and wine after.
- Labor-intensive hand picking process in short period of time. Trained stuff will go in the vineyards to pick the frozen grape. The best time is during the night, when it is really cold; ideally somewhere between -10 C and -13 C as it gives a maximum level of sweetness without spoiling.
- Once picked and transported, the grapes are pressed within hours in an unheated facility. The frozen water crystals are left behind and only the concentrated juice runs from the press.
- Crop production is small; almost half less than what it needs for table wines, 3-3.5 kg to make 375 ml of this famous Niagara nectar.
- Canada is the world's largest producer of the Icewine. Canadian Ice wine is world recognized. To keep the quality and its level, production is regulated by Vintners Quality Alliance or VQA; grapes must freeze naturally to be called Ice wine.
Niagara Ice wine has slightly lower alcohol content than regular table wine, but still, don't drink and drive.
How many Niagara wineries are making the Icewine? Where to buy online...
- Chateau des Charmes
- Flat Rock Cellars
- Jackson-Triggs
- EastDell
- Henry of Pelham
- Royal DeMaria
- Inniskillin
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