This is our last wine of our dessert wine series. This week we focus our attention on ice wines. Ice wines are risky, time intensive and expensive to produce but the results are delicious.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Where is ice wine made?
- History of ice wine
- Ice wine has standards
- Ice wine is difficult to make
- Grapes used and what to expect in ice wines
- Food pairings
Wine Recommendations
Heidmann’s-Bergweiler 2016 Polar Bear Eiswein – priced around $38 for 375ml bottle. This wine is made with Riesling grapes from the Rheinhessin area of Germany. It has a medium lemon color with medium intense aromas and flavors of lemon, slate or minerality, and a hint of flowers. It’s full bodied with medium acidity, but a lighter ice wine style and not as sticky in texture compared to other ice wines.
This is a winery direct selection from Total wine which you can purchase here.
Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estates Vidal 2015 – priced around $24 for a small 187ml bottle so definitely special occasion wine. It’s made with the vidal grape from the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario Canada. This wine is a deep gold color with a pronounced nose of Apricots, mango and papaya. This wine is very sweet, full bodied, medium plus acidity, with flavors of dried tropical fruits – think the trail mix you get with all those dried fruits – apricots, papaya, mango, and pineapple. This wine is bigger and bolder than the German wine, it’s truly a dessert in itself, sticky but the acidity really balances the sweetness out to make it drinkable and enjoyable.
You can purchase this wine here
Do you have a favorite ice wine? Let us know your recommendations below.
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