Inniskillin Gold Vidal Icewine (375ML half-bottle) 2019
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Generous amounts of ripe fruit give aromatics of peach, mango, and orange. Flavors of apricot and citrus with hints of clove and a touch of vanilla make this a classic Niagara Peninsula Icewine.
Always good with the traditional crème brule and crème caramel; try tropical fruit
compote, roasted peaches or pineapple with panacotta; cheeses from fresh chevre to parmesan with a dribbling of honey; brown butter lobster salad with baby arugala and hazel nuts; Vidal Onion soup with cheese crouton (spin off of classical French Onion soup).
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While Ontario’s 2019 Icewine harvest started officially on November 12, Inniskillin held off until well into 2020 to pick the vidal for their Gold bottling. By then, the shriveled grapes had gone through a few freeze-thaw cycles, further concentrating their sugars and developing more complexity. The result is gorgeous from the first floral, herbal, sweet- fruit whiff. It delivers everything it promises and more, a cornucopia of bright, zingy citrus and softer, rounder stone-fruit flavors. It feels like satin, too, with 272 g/l of residual sugar creating a rich, creamy sensation while the acidity keeps it all lifted, the flavors crystal clear.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Gold Vidal Icewine was fermented and aged for about 14 weeks in 90% new French oak. It comes in with 272 grams of residual sugar, 10.5 of total acidity and 10% alcohol. Rich and unctuous, this also has classic aromatics and a certain level of freshness that keeps it from being particularly cloying. This is also completely delicious, with a little of bit of spicy apricots on the mouthwatering finish. The acidity lifts the fruit and allows it to shine through. It's never going to be a nervy wine, but it is not flabby either. If you like stickies, this won't disappoint. It should age very well, acquiring a bit more character along the way. Many will like it the way it is, but it can acquire another dimension in time. Best After 2021
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What is Icewine?
VQA Icewine is a highly concentrated dessert wine made by harvesting grapes naturally frozen on the vine at -10 C in December-January. Inniskillin VQA Icewine is internationally awarded and recognized and is exported throughout the world.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
With a cool climate suitable for more than just icewine production, Canada is also home to excellent dry, still and sparkling Canadian wines. Most viticulture is based in Ontario on the east coast and British Columbia on the west coast. Because of the high risk of winter freeze and spring frost, plantings are typically centered on large bodies of water to take advantage of their temperature moderating effects.
In Ontario, particularly on the Niagara Peninsula, aromatic white varieties like Riesling and Gewürztraminer are most successful. Many Canadian wineries produce both dry and semi-dry versions. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cabernet Franc perform nicely here as well. For icewine, French-American hybrid variety, Vidal, is popular. In British Columbia, many of the same grapes are grown, but there is also a significant emphasis on Bordeaux varieties—especially Merlot.