Rolex Forums - Rolex Watch Forum - View Single Post

5 September 2005, 08:15 AM

We had some people over last night for dinner, and I opened one of my most treasured bottles of ice wine. Canada is one of (if not the) the largest producers of ice wine in the world - mainly in the Niagara region of Ontario. The grape used is typically Vidal or Riesling, and the grapes must stay on the vine until frozen, and are harvested at temperatures between -10 and -13 degrees C. To be called ice wine, they can't be frozen by any other methods (must be naturally frozen on the vine). The long time on the vine makes the grapes dry out quite a bit, so when harvested they only give up about 1 drop of juice per grape, and the brix level soars. Combine this with the fact that many grapes are lost to birds, etc, and this becomes an expensive, premuim product quite quickly.

If you have never had this, you should try it. It is a sweet dessert wine, and you don't need to drink much to get the taste. These wines have flavours of apricots, honey, peaches and other fruits, and are a pleasure to drink. I am not at all a fan of sweet table wines, but this kind of dessert wine is something different and special.

The 1/2 bottle I opened last night has been laying down for years in my cellar. Not sure exactly when we bought it, but it would have been the current years production then, so it may be close to 10 years ago! It is a vidal variety, and the age has done it well. Most ice wines aren't kept for long, due to the small output most are drank quickly after bottling, so a 5 year old bottle is quite rare and expensive. I've seen 1/2 bottles from the late 90's fetching $300, so not sure what this 1994 would have been worth (not sure I want to think about it either!).

Here is a shot of the bottle, and then one of the wine in the glass. Very dark colour (much darker than the younger ice wines are), and it poured like a light syrop. The taste was incredible! I've had a lot of ice wine over the years, but this was by far the best I've ever tasted.

5 September 2005, 08:15 AM	#1
---- Guest Posts: n/a	Ice Wine! We had some people over last night for dinner, and I opened one of my most treasured bottles of ice wine. Canada is one of (if not the) the largest producers of ice wine in the world - mainly in the Niagara region of Ontario. The grape used is typically Vidal or Riesling, and the grapes must stay on the vine until frozen, and are harvested at temperatures between -10 and -13 degrees C. To be called ice wine, they can't be frozen by any other methods (must be naturally frozen on the vine). The long time on the vine makes the grapes dry out quite a bit, so when harvested they only give up about 1 drop of juice per grape, and the brix level soars. Combine this with the fact that many grapes are lost to birds, etc, and this becomes an expensive, premuim product quite quickly. If you have never had this, you should try it. It is a sweet dessert wine, and you don't need to drink much to get the taste. These wines have flavours of apricots, honey, peaches and other fruits, and are a pleasure to drink. I am not at all a fan of sweet table wines, but this kind of dessert wine is something different and special. The 1/2 bottle I opened last night has been laying down for years in my cellar. Not sure exactly when we bought it, but it would have been the current years production then, so it may be close to 10 years ago! It is a vidal variety, and the age has done it well. Most ice wines aren't kept for long, due to the small output most are drank quickly after bottling, so a 5 year old bottle is quite rare and expensive. I've seen 1/2 bottles from the late 90's fetching $300, so not sure what this 1994 would have been worth (not sure I want to think about it either!). Here is a shot of the bottle, and then one of the wine in the glass. Very dark colour (much darker than the younger ice wines are), and it poured like a light syrop. The taste was incredible! I've had a lot of ice wine over the years, but this was by far the best I've ever tasted.