As a wine professional in Canada, I appreciate your comments about Canadian Ice Wine, but it’s pronounced ice-wine, not eis-wein, like in Germany. Also, the winery name is Cave Springs, not cave with a French softened pronounciation.
I recommend some of the sparkling icewines from Niagara or BC, truly unreal.
I do enjoy the program, but sometimes the pronunciation is way off. In the Champagne episode, you constantly say Pinot Manure!! Its pronounced Moo-nyay.
I’m not trying to come off snobbish, but accuracy of other languages is important in our profession.

Interesting that you caught the petrol flavour in the Vidal; that tends to come up in the Niagara terroir, particularly Vidal. In one vidal icewine from Reif (2000, probably), the petrol note was considerable — not overpowering, but unmistakeable. A Cab Franc from Strewn I tasted over the holidays had similar traits.

I grew up in the Niagara Region back when wine in Canada was Brights, Andrés and a few others (I remember when Karl Kaiser first tried icewine in Canada), and I have to echo and add to Jimmy Smokepack here; in addition to his points about Cayve Springs and iceWine (iceVine is how I say “eiswein”) I’ve never heard anyone call it “Pel-hahm”. Perhaps the winery does that, I see Daniel Speck didn’t raise the issue, but it’s just “Pelluhm”, at least to us locals.

I recommend the 2005 Peller Estates Oak-aged Vidal they are tasting now (as of Christmas 2006), it has a creme brulée taste to it very similar to that Jackson-Triggs you tasted, but stronger — and it doesn’t just disappear immediately upon the finish like it does in the J-T… it lingers nicely without being cloying. It isn’t the fruit bomb Vidal usually is, either. I’m so pi$$ed I couldn’t take any home, thanks to homeland security (no fluids on planes, and I didn’t want to risk any wine in checked bags after a friend of mine found out what the drop in pressure does to corks)… if you can stock it, do!

It seems like everyone is in love with Cave Springs (Wine Spectator, the perennial Europhiles, consistently rate their Riesling icewine at 90 points), and for good reason; their Rieslings are consistently very well balanced.

One thing I’ve wondered about: does Canada have some legal monopoly on the term “icewine”? Apart from the Germans with “eiswein”, it seems like all the non-Canadian frozen-grape wines are two words “ice wine”. I thought at first that two-word “ice wine” was the artificially frozen sort (e.g. the Renwood “Amador Ice” Zinfandel), but I’ve since discovered Selaks (New Zealand) and Covey Run (Columbia Valley, Washington) ice wines that are nonetheless frozen naturally.

I’ve just started tasting wine & seem to like the dessert wines. This is the first time watching an episode. This is great! I’ve learned so much. THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Gary!

I’m new to your site so I’m going back through old episodes. Since I’m from Canada I thought that I’d see which Canadian wines you’ve tasted in the past… and low and behold here’s an icewine episode!

To answer your question: the dessert wine that absolutely blew me away was the Inniskillin Sparkling Icewine. That stuff is AWESOME!

I’m looking forward to watching other episodes where you taste Canadian wines. Thanks for spreading the word on icewines from your neighbours to the north!

That’s right….shout it loud and proud about Canadian wine! Nice to also see where my autobody shop shirt sprung from
QOTD – 1996 Tokaji 6 puttanoyos. This stuff is the real deal!

I actually don’t know the name of the first desert wine I tried – but it was the 1st wine that made me think I could actually like wine! It was a German desert wine – or maybe French – it kills me that I don’t remember.

I haven’t had any icewines – that will be an experience.

Great Episode. Big fan of icewines.

I live in the Niagara area and drive past the vineyards regularly. Visit many of the wineries too.

Fave dessert wine would have to be the 1996 Henry of Pelham late harvest vidal.

Reason being it was the first dessert wine I ever had and it got me hooked. A few years ago my wife and I went to the winery and bought the last case of the 1996 LHV. (at least they told us it was the last case). I think I have one of the few remaining bottles in existence sitting in my cellar waiting for that special day. We split that case with friends, they went throught their share faster than I did. Had a bottle of it as recently as 6 months ago and it was still holding strong if not getting better.

I also have a couple of bottles of Stonechurch vineyards 1995 and 1996 Icewine. These are extremely good as well and seem to be getting better with age.

Any thoughts on ageing icewine?

Whoops. That was supposed to be a 1995 Henry of Pelham late harvest vidal, not 1996.

QOTD: I’ve had some pretty good ones from a local vineyard in Little Compton, RI Sakonnet Vineyards. They have a great Vidal late harvest.

If only you had had a chance at Hillebrand Trius ’97 Vidal Icewine, oak aged. And Harbour Estates ’99 Riesling. The first was had a nearly unbelievable muscular maturity. The latter was lacy and refined, yet not insubstantial at all. Then there’s Pillitteri…

I’m not as much a fan of Inniskillen as others; I respect their heritage and tradition though. I haven’t tried the Royal di Maria, whose prices are stratospheric.

QOTD..In my case it is a tie between the 1976er Langwerth von Simmern Erbach Marcobrunner Riesling Auslese, which was very expensive and had an absolutely sublime bouquet; and, of a much lesser pedigree but still very enjoyable (and I bought a case of it on clearance Thank God), the 1996 Winzergenossenschaft Monchhof Trockenbeerenauslese (Central cooperative of Monchhof, Austria), made from Welschriesling (Gray Riesling), and still improving two days after uncorking. This was a most enjoyable episode as well.

How can I see this video about ice wines from Canada? Well, Its Possible to send the response to my email?
Thahks
Juan (Santiago de Chile)

Hey!
I’m from Niagara and we’re all very proud of our wine, especially ice wine. Just a heads up Gary! Henry of Pelham is pronounced Henry of Pell-um. Pelham is a county in the Niagara region with a ton of vineyards and orchards.

Gary,

You should try the Chateau des Charmes Vidal Ice wine. It is literally liquid gold and a finish that lasts forever. There is also an Ice Gewurztraminer from Malvoire in the Beamsville Bench … wow, absolutely tremendous. It won an award at a dessert wine competition in France. a force to be reckon with!

Great episode Gary! Since you are fan of sparklers and ice wines, I’m sad you didn’t try the Inniskillin sparkling vidal, my favorite wine from Canada. I also enjoyed the cab franc from the same producer.

Now that I’ve living near Piemonte, it’s time to expand my wine knowledge with Dolcetto, Gattinara, Ghemme and Barbera!

I have to also admit being let down on the beer choice. Moosehead, Alexander Keith’s, Okanagan Springs, and Sleemans are good mainstream choices. Quebec’s Unibroue is my favorite producer…they make a great white beer (Blanche de Chambly) and La Fin Du Monde is a surprisingly enjoyable ~10% beer.

Great episode Gary, couldn’t agree with you more on Canada’s ice wines. Where I work, we primarily focus on french wines so i get the opportunity to try alot of the top Sauternes, Barsac etc. I’ll tell ya those Canadian ice wines definitely give them a run for their money. The last 2 I had both vidal’s, from Inniskillin and Riverview respectively, had quality and finishes to then that were unreal. Then when you compare their prices to the other top dessert wines out there, like Sauternes, there’s no reason not to scoop these ice wines up.
qotd: probably ice wines right now actually, although I’m anxious to try a vin de paille from Jura or Rhone.
My fav’s change all the time, which brings me to my request for you Gary. I’d like to see you do an episode on the 2 things I’m currently thinking about, a vin jaune episode, and a tasing on different California charbono’s.

Have had some Canadian Ice ines, the Jackson-Triggs, they are good but best ones can be very expensive. What's up with the Family Guy doll? QOTD-Ruby Ports http://www.winelx.com

not a big fan of the dessert wines as they are not talking to my palate….But!!! I once was a HUGE sweet wine fan and i have alot of big $$$ wines in my “cellar” from that time!

Hey Gary
It might have been awhile since you have tasted Icewine and I wanted you to know about a little winery in Niagara on the Lake called The Ice House Winery that has been making a hit with their range of “toasting style” Icewines that are terrrific with spicy, salty appetizers. Jamie Macfarlane is the winemaker at the winery and he has been making Icewines for over 25 years. At the winery, Icewine slushies are a big hit. Combine ice cubes and Vidal in a blender and have a refreshing blast! Let us know if you want to try something different, Jamie would be happy to send you his Northern Ice Vidal, Reisling and Cabernet Sauvignon/Dornfelder.