Hmm... Ice Wines...
Never been much of a fan of white wines. They never packed the pizazz of red wines, particularly shiraz wines, that I love so much. However, this weekend, I have found a white version that I absolutely LOVE...
ICE WINES.
Saturday afternoon, The Husband and I decided to take a winery tour in NOTL. The Niagara region is an amazing little pocket known for producing wines in Canada. The best tasting of all the varietals (in my opinion) are the ice wines.
They are very sweet wines, made from grapes after they have been frozen on the vine. The freezing affects the water in the grapes without affecting the sugars in them... And this allows for a very sweet wine to be produced.
Ice wines are fantastic as dessert wines. Some Stilton, crackers and ice wine would be a dreamy dessert course for me.
The winery we toured was one of the larger ones in the Niagara region, Jackson-Triggs.
The architecture of the building is quite a site to take in... My father-in-law compared it to an airplane hanger.
And I quite agree with him on that.
However, the tour guide at the winery told us the building is supposed to resemble a a barn. Hmm...
Before the tour, The Husband and I popped in to the tasting gallery of the winery. We decided to try two flights of wines (in addition to the tasting we were going to get on the tour).
We tried a flight of red table wines.
(Pinot noir, Syrah, Cabernet-Merlot.)
And we also tried a flight of the ice wines.
(Vidal, Riesling, Cabernet Franc.)
Despite loving red wines, I did not like any of the red wines. They were way too harsh. Probably still very young. We had a hard time downing that flight. The Pinot had a very "tobacco" flavor. It wasn't good.
The ice wines, however, we loved. Especially the Vidal. It was delightful. Very light. Very honey-flavored. So good. The Riesling was also good, with a wonderful pineapple flavor.
(If you're ever looking for a fun vacation, I highly recommend going to Niagara-On-the-Lake. How fun would it be to hang out in the town, take in a few Shaw Festival shows, and then go on a bike ride tour of the dozen vineyards they have in the area?)
The Husband and I ended up picking up a bottle of Vidal ice wine from the Pellar Estates (another local winery - where we had our wedding rehearsal dinner at) to bring home with us to Boston. We have some "wine-y" friends who we want to have over for dinner soon to share it with. (Though, I must confess, I am DYING to open it now. It's so good!)
ICE WINES.
Saturday afternoon, The Husband and I decided to take a winery tour in NOTL. The Niagara region is an amazing little pocket known for producing wines in Canada. The best tasting of all the varietals (in my opinion) are the ice wines.
They are very sweet wines, made from grapes after they have been frozen on the vine. The freezing affects the water in the grapes without affecting the sugars in them... And this allows for a very sweet wine to be produced.
Ice wines are fantastic as dessert wines. Some Stilton, crackers and ice wine would be a dreamy dessert course for me.
The winery we toured was one of the larger ones in the Niagara region, Jackson-Triggs.
The architecture of the building is quite a site to take in... My father-in-law compared it to an airplane hanger.
And I quite agree with him on that.
However, the tour guide at the winery told us the building is supposed to resemble a a barn. Hmm...
Before the tour, The Husband and I popped in to the tasting gallery of the winery. We decided to try two flights of wines (in addition to the tasting we were going to get on the tour).
We tried a flight of red table wines.
(Pinot noir, Syrah, Cabernet-Merlot.)
And we also tried a flight of the ice wines.
(Vidal, Riesling, Cabernet Franc.)
Despite loving red wines, I did not like any of the red wines. They were way too harsh. Probably still very young. We had a hard time downing that flight. The Pinot had a very "tobacco" flavor. It wasn't good.
The ice wines, however, we loved. Especially the Vidal. It was delightful. Very light. Very honey-flavored. So good. The Riesling was also good, with a wonderful pineapple flavor.
(If you're ever looking for a fun vacation, I highly recommend going to Niagara-On-the-Lake. How fun would it be to hang out in the town, take in a few Shaw Festival shows, and then go on a bike ride tour of the dozen vineyards they have in the area?)
The Husband and I ended up picking up a bottle of Vidal ice wine from the Pellar Estates (another local winery - where we had our wedding rehearsal dinner at) to bring home with us to Boston. We have some "wine-y" friends who we want to have over for dinner soon to share it with. (Though, I must confess, I am DYING to open it now. It's so good!)
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