WTN: WHAT A THRILL!!

Ice wines are made from sound, very late harvest grapes, that are picked and pressed while still frozen. Since it is the water in the grapes that freezes, everything else is concentrated, including the sugar and acid, both of which kind of act like anti-freeze. Sauternes and TBA, on the other hand, are made from late harvest grapes that become infected with botrytis, a type of rot, known as "Noble Rot". This rot dries up the grape berries, almost like raisins, and actually consumes some of the acid in the grapes and changes the flavor of the juice, making it less fruity. Cool, moist evenings with morning fog and condensation on the grapes help the botrytis to spread. Some varieties are resistant to botrytis, such as Vidal. Botrytis is a bad thing in grapes that are to be used for normal table wines, such as Pinot Noir.

[Robin Garr]

Have you ever tried Sauternes? I haven't yet. I'm just curious how it compares to icewine on the prestigous-dessert-wine level or is it pretty much a categoty all it's own?

With the caveat that I'm not particularly a fancier of sweet wines (except for Port and Madeira), I find Sauternes much more complex than ice wines, which are slurpy and delicious but seem to be a little bit more one-dimensional to my taste buds. (I'm talking about Canadian and U.S. ice wines here ... I have very little experience with German.)

Needless to say with all the cold snowy weather in BC, they are picking for the icewines right now. Lots of TV coverage, have not picked this early in years.

Not even close in the Niagara Peninsula yet. Temps this week have been +10 to +20 C, or 50-68F. Supposed to get colder by the weekend, but not quite cold enough to pick ice wine grapes.

In searching for new icewine experiences I came accross one of Inniskillin's
100% Vidal that is "Oak Aged". I didn't buy a bottle yet; I need some forumite input here. Has anyone ever tried an "oaked" icewine? And what were the primary or, most notable effects?

Robin:

I am a fancier of sweet wines, and I agree with your assessment.

Now to confuse or clarify things a bit here regarding naturally frozen grapes vs. artificially frozen grapes. I seem to recall that in the U.S. (or somewhere in the world!), the term "icewine" would be used on the label of a bottle of wine derived from the naturally frozen berries, while the term "ice wine" (two words) would be used on the artificially frozen version. Has anyone else heard of this? Or, perhaps I just conjured this up on my own?

Dave Mo

In searching for new icewine experiences I came accross one of Inniskillin's
100% Vidal that is "Oak Aged". I didn't buy a bottle yet; I need some forumite input here. Has anyone ever tried an "oaked" icewine? And what were the primary or, most notable effects?

Aaron - I have no experience with oak aged Vidal icewine. However, I believe some German TBAs and Sauternes are oak aged. Several years ago I made some Vidal and did an experiment by putting it through malo-lactic fermentation, aging it on oak and finishing it bone dry. I rather enjoyed it, but when I entered it in the New York State Fair they threw it out because it "lacked varietal character". Well no kidding!

Robin:

I am a fancier of sweet wines, and I agree with your assessment.

Now to confuse or clarify things a bit here regarding naturally frozen grapes vs. artificially frozen grapes. I seem to recall that in the U.S. (or somewhere in the world!), the term "icewine" would be used on the label of a bottle of wine derived from the naturally frozen berries, while the term "ice wine" (two words) would be used on the artificially frozen version. Has anyone else heard of this? Or, perhaps I just conjured this up on my own?

Dave Mo

Hello Dave,
Washington Winery - Chateau St. Michelle Made some Ice Wine the real way as you'll read in earlier posts of this particular thread, and I believe they refer to it as "ice wine". However, Bonny Doon Vineyards has a Muscat ice wine thats done the artificial way you referred to- it's a process called cryo-extraction (see- http://www.thewinedoctor.com/glossary/c.shtml), but they call it "Vin de Glaciere" (meaning "wine of ice" in french). Also check out the link below for even more info. Hope this has helped.
http://www.themediadrome.com/content/ar ... e_wine.htm