Frozen in Time
 
Warming Up to Ice Wines

By Warren Rojas

Most winemakers shutter their doors before the first winter frost gets a chance to nip at their precious vines. But for ice wine producers, falling temperatures mark only the beginning of the road for their frozen-borne creations.

A testament to patience, care and, quite often, just-in-the-nick-of-time harvesting, traditional ice wines—or eiswein as they are known in Germany—are made from non-botrytis-affected grapes deliberately allowed to freeze on the vine. During pressing, the ice (read: frozen water) is eliminated from the final mash, leaving just the distinctly ultra-concentrated juice that serves as the foundation for these super sweet libations.

While noting that Germany and Canada remain the standard bearers in terms of ice wines, Suzanne McGrath considers the 2004 Steindorfer Eiswein Cuvee Klaus ($30) from Southeastern Austria to be a worthy competitor.

“This intense, unctuous ice wine is a blend of pinot gris and welschriesling grapes,” she says, listing the “concentrated flavors of apricot and spice” and “vibrant grapefruit” as definite turn-ons.

Closer to home, both McGrath and Kathy Morgan seem hot for the 2005 Standing Stone Vineyards Vidal Ice ($25)—an ice wine doppelganger from New York.

According to McGrath, the lack of sustained, sub-freezing temperatures around the Finger Lakes area requires these grapes to be harvested late and mechanically frozen, a man-made technique she claims “mimics the complexity and exotic flavors found in wines made according to the traditional method, but at a much lower price.” Morgan sees nothing wrong with helping nature along either, indicating that resulting wine exhibits “intense apricot and tropical flavors that seem to go on forever.”

According to Morgan, eiswein sticklers should enjoy the authenticity of the 2003 Bollig-Lehnert Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Eiswein ($45), a “racy, profound and incredibly cosncentrated” offering plucked from the impossibly steep slopes bordering the Mosel River Valley.

Lingering in that same region, Paul Yohai points to the Heidemanns family—dedicated winemakers whose ancestors have been practicing their craft since the 12th century—as local experts in the eiswein game. He touts the 2004 Dr. Heidemanns Bernkasteler Riesling Eiswein ($70) as an outstanding buy “well-defined by its vivid structure and crisp acidity,” hailing the cascade of “candied peach, apple and lemon flavors and … nuances of coconut” that tickles the palate with every sip.

Bouncing back across the Atlantic, Yohai likes what third-generation vineyard owner Paul Lizak is up to in Canada’s Niagara Peninsula. According to Yohai, the 2005/2006 Legends Estates Vidal Icewine ($35) is the latest find from this award-winning boutique winery.

Yohai says to expect an “elegant bouquet of honey and peach,” followed by “pure peach and pineapple flavors that express themselves with outstanding persistence on the long finish,” and bills the overall wine as “thick, plush and sweet, yet at the same time well-balanced.”

(December 2007)