Day 12: festival of ice

One of the things I won’t do for the Bikini Birthday is stop drinking alcohol. While I don’t drink often, yesterday I got my fair share of one of my favourites: Icewine.

Matt and I went with my dad and his friends to 5 different wineries in Essex County to sample icewines (among others) as part of the Southwestern Ontario Vintner’s Association Festival of Ice. I had this event in my calendar for weeks now because I absolutely love ice wine! It’s so expensive to buy too, so I wasn’t going to miss out on some free tastings.

The development of icewine is often attributed to Inniskillin winery in the Niagara region, but it actually has roots in Germany. In any case, it’s truly a Canadian product because Canadian winters in Niagara, Essex County, and the Okanagan Valley provide ideal conditions– the grapes have to be hard frozen at below -8 deg C before they are picked.

We hit up 5 different wineries and I was buzzing after the first, Muscedere, who gave really generous tastings. Here were my favourites from each winery:

Favourites:

Muscedere: I fell in love with their 2008 Rosé because it was crisp and not as sweet as a typical Rosé. I also liked the 2006 Cab Franc Icewine because of its bolder caramel flavours, although everyone else preferred the Vidal.

Colchester Ridge Estate Winery (CREW): The 2007 Riesling was my favourite. I also liked the 2006 Cab Sauv Reserve.

Erie Shores: Erie Shores’ 2006 Vidal Icewine is the best icewine I’ve ever had. Period.

Sprucewood Shores: 2007 Late Harvest Riesling Traminer Vidal; umm… what? I had to ask the guy to repeat the name because I didn’t know what it was. Did he say Vidal, or Gewurtztraminer? Whatever he said, it translated to delicious. It was not super sweet like most late harvest wines. Also, they made a fantastic mulled wine! It was one the the best things I sampled all day!

Viewpointe Estate: They weren’t taking part in the festival but we stopped by for some tastings anyway (because evidently we weren’t drunk enough). The girl serving us was kind enough to open a pricey bottle of the amazing 2002 Cab Merlot (called Balance Pointe) . Man, it was good. Full-bodied, but smooth. We even bought a couple bottles. My favourite red wine of the day.