Boundary Breaks Riesling Ice Wine (375ML half-bottle) 2020
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Ice Wine is a dessert wine made from grapes left out in the vineyard into the winter to dehydrate under the steady rays of the sun. Boundary Breaks are able to pick the fruit for Ice Wine once temperature reach 15 degrees F or lower. At
these low temperatures, any water left in the berries turns to ice. These dehydrated grapes/raisins give the Ice Wine juice an earthier, honey-flavored quality which is a distinctive characteristic of this wine.
The vintage shown on the label for Ice Wine is based on the year that the fruit is picked. The fruit for this wine was grown during the 2019 season and picked mid-January 2020. As the clean, healthy fruit de-hydrates on the vine, temperatures are too cold for molds or mildew, so no adverse characteristics develop.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Riesling Ice Wine was picked on January 20, 2020, at 15 degrees, and bottled in June 2020. It comes in with 11.8% alcohol, 198 grams of sugar and 9.7 of total acidity. This, the winery is proud to point out, is a "true" ice wine—frozen on the vine, not in a freezer. Keeping its sugar under control, this aromatic ice wine offers freshness, not just cloying fruit. It does have a somewhat darker flavor profile, perhaps even a hint of reduction. That should get better. All the while, it seems remarkably concentrated in mouthfeel. This is both delicious and beautifully structured. There's a long finish, full of flavor and surprisingly refreshing, relatively speaking. It should age quite well, probably better than indicated, but I am always conservative in such things. The price references a half bottle, from which this was tasted.
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James Suckling
The exotic-fruit, orange-blossom and jasmine aromas announce a simultaneously juicy and elegant ice wine. On the palate it may be on the light side for this rich category, but it’s beautifully balanced, precise and impeccably made. Tangy orange-marmalade note at the long, bright finish.
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Wine Spectator
Apricot and tangerine notes burst forth in this orange zest–laced dessert wine, finishing with a flash of honeycomb. Nicely done.
Other Vintages
2018-
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The vineyard site is exceptional. There are 70 acres of open farmland that had previously been planted to row crops like corn and soybeans. The soils are characterized as “Cazenovia Silt Loam” which is tested at an optimal pH typical of calcareous soils. These soils are considered ideal for producing complex aromatic white wines.
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.
As the most historic wine-producing region in New York state, winemaking in the Finger Lakes area dates back to the 1820s and today as a region, accounts for 90% of the state’s total wine production.
Its narrow and deep lakes created by the movement of Ice Age glaciers create an environment similar to the classic Riesling-loving regions of Europe, namely Germany and Austria. The Finger Lakes retain summer heat that incidentally warms up cold winter air, making it fall down from the lakes’ steep slopes. When spring comes, the lakes, already cooled by cold winter weather, stave off vine budding until the danger of frost has subsided. The main lakes of the zone, that is those big enough to moderate the climate in this way, are the focal points of prime vineyard areas. They include Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca and Cayuga.
While Riesling has fueled most of the region’s success, today Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc enjoy some attention.