WineXpert favorite ice wines
- Thread starter corinth
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wine. I would like to know what are your favorite ice wine's.
any ice wine you can afford is a good ice wine. any made from Riesling should be great.
ColemanM
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I made the WE Riesling ice wine. Turned out good. Need to be degassed better. Rookie mistake. The finish, IMHO is a bit thick. Would put half the fpak in to ferment or only use 1/2 to finish it. I have three left and have realized that after 3 1/2 years, they actually get better.
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I have had a bunch of varietals of ice wine and really like it. I think the vidal one I had in PA was the best yet. I haven't had a red or blush icewine, but they do exist, according to Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia:
"Typical grapes used for ice wine production are Riesling, considered to be the noblest variety by German winemakers; Vidal, highly popular in Ontario, Canada; and the red grape Cabernet Franc. Many vintners, especially from the New World, are experimenting with making ice wine from other varieties: whites such as Seyval blanc, Chardonnay, Kerner, Gewürztraminer, Chenin blanc, Pinot blanc, and Ehrenfelser; or reds such as Merlot, Pinot noir, and even Cabernet Sauvignon. Pillitteri Estates Winery from the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario claim to be the first winery in the world producing Shiraz (Syrah) ice wine with the 2004 vintage, Semillion, and Sangiovese in 2007.[34]
Ice wines from white varieties tend to be pale yellow or light gold in color when they are young and can maderise (acquiring a deep amber-golden color) as they age. The red varieties tend to have a light burgundy or even pink color like that of rosé wines, since the steeping of the skins in the pressed liquid typically used in red wine making is obviously not possible in ice wine production."
From Wikipedia:
"Typical grapes used for ice wine production are Riesling, considered to be the noblest variety by German winemakers; Vidal, highly popular in Ontario, Canada; and the red grape Cabernet Franc. Many vintners, especially from the New World, are experimenting with making ice wine from other varieties: whites such as Seyval blanc, Chardonnay, Kerner, Gewürztraminer, Chenin blanc, Pinot blanc, and Ehrenfelser; or reds such as Merlot, Pinot noir, and even Cabernet Sauvignon. Pillitteri Estates Winery from the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario claim to be the first winery in the world producing Shiraz (Syrah) ice wine with the 2004 vintage, Semillion, and Sangiovese in 2007.[34]
Ice wines from white varieties tend to be pale yellow or light gold in color when they are young and can maderise (acquiring a deep amber-golden color) as they age. The red varieties tend to have a light burgundy or even pink color like that of rosé wines, since the steeping of the skins in the pressed liquid typically used in red wine making is obviously not possible in ice wine production."
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I make two different ones from Vidal. I prefer this over Riesling.
My wife and I both prefer red ice wines and so far I have made an RJS Cru Specialty Cabernet Franc. It turned out surprisingly well. I have never made a WE kit but read some posts and people seem to say they also turn out good.
A while after making it and becoming accustomed to its flavor profile I sampled a Peller Estates Cabernet Franc ice wine. This commercial wine sold for $90/375 ml compared to $3.24/375 ml for the kit so not even in the same order of magnitude price wise. However, in terms of flavor they were surprisingly close. The commercial was slightly less "sickly sweet", somewhat more intensely flavored and notably smoother.
The sweetness could be fixed by leaving out some of the F-pack, though that would also affect the flavor somewhat. I don't think adding it to the primary would help since the juice I got was so sweet it never fermented dry anyway, but I wouldn't want it more alcoholic either. Mine finished at 13.7% ABV after dilution with the full F-pack. Maybe adding a dry aromatic white to tone down the sugar a bit might work. I should bench trial that sometime! Watering down the juice with some acidulated water before fermenting would probably be a better solution.
The other significant difference was that the kit had some sharpness/bitterness to it which was completely absent from the commercial version. I suspect this was simply the quality of the fruit and the concentration process used for the kit.
Overall I was pleased, just don't expect this to match the top commercial offerings. If I were tasting blind and had to put a price on it I might have rated the kit at perhaps 1/3 the price of the commercial -- still a very good result.
This is now almost 2 years old, and with the cold weather approaching I should open another soon!
A while after making it and becoming accustomed to its flavor profile I sampled a Peller Estates Cabernet Franc ice wine. This commercial wine sold for $90/375 ml compared to $3.24/375 ml for the kit so not even in the same order of magnitude price wise. However, in terms of flavor they were surprisingly close. The commercial was slightly less "sickly sweet", somewhat more intensely flavored and notably smoother.
The sweetness could be fixed by leaving out some of the F-pack, though that would also affect the flavor somewhat. I don't think adding it to the primary would help since the juice I got was so sweet it never fermented dry anyway, but I wouldn't want it more alcoholic either. Mine finished at 13.7% ABV after dilution with the full F-pack. Maybe adding a dry aromatic white to tone down the sugar a bit might work. I should bench trial that sometime! Watering down the juice with some acidulated water before fermenting would probably be a better solution.
The other significant difference was that the kit had some sharpness/bitterness to it which was completely absent from the commercial version. I suspect this was simply the quality of the fruit and the concentration process used for the kit.
Overall I was pleased, just don't expect this to match the top commercial offerings. If I were tasting blind and had to put a price on it I might have rated the kit at perhaps 1/3 the price of the commercial -- still a very good result.
This is now almost 2 years old, and with the cold weather approaching I should open another soon!
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