Canadian ice wine

[Steve_K]

A friend is coming over from Canada to live in Ireland for a few months soon and I want to get some ice wine brought over as I've never been able to find it in the country.

Can anyone please recommend 2 or 3 high end Canadian ice wines that would cellar well?

All suggestions much appreciated :)

[AnneInMpls]

I love Inniskillin ice wines. They all seem to survive 1 or 2 years in my "cellar" (aka a basement closet), but I've never let them sit for much longer.

The sparking version didn't even make it 2 months - not sure if that one would age, but it's lovely.

Anne

[Steve_K]

So the Canadian stuff is not for long-term cellaring?
I have some German/Austrian bottles that, or so I have been advised, will not reach their peak for upwards of 15 years.

[AnneInMpls]

Canadian ice wine is probably just fine for cellaring, but I'm unsure about the sparkling ice wine (only because I read somewhere that NV champagne isn't for long-term storage).

Don't go by me, though - I'm completely clueless about cellaring issues. And I'm greedy, especially where ice wine is concerned. I've never been able to buy enough to leave it for long...

For the real scoop, contact the winery. Inniskillin can be reached through http://www.inniskillin.com/en/contact .

Anne

[melguelph]

From my experiences, when you cellar ice wine, the taste of the wine can change dramatically over time. This link http://www.winesofcanada.com/icewine.html should help you out with which grape varieties are best for cellaring.

I've been impressed with some of the Jackson Triggs ice wines www.jacksontriggswinery.com

There is also an excellent Ice Cuvee from Peller estates www.peller.com -- they take a sparkling wine and add ice wine to it.

[Ali]

Peller is excellent. I haven't had the sparkling but the others that I've had have all been of very high quality. Same with the Inniskillin - there has been one bottle that wasn't as high quality but I think that was more a fluke than anything else (and it wasn't bad, in any case).

With the Jackson Triggs, the one bottle I've had was just so poor in quality that I couldn't recommend it over Pellar and Inniskillin.

[eatzalot]

Steve_K, in case the point hasn't been brought up yet, the central-European prototypes are "Eiswein," produced erratically, traditionally an attempt to salvage at least something when an early frost hits unpicked grapes intended for artisanal Rieslings. It's relatively rare except in years with early frost. In eastern Canada (which has frost to spare), "Ice wine" is produced more consistently and deliberately.

[Cancuk]

Ice wine can age for decades.

[dcrockett]

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/ProductR...

This is a site from the Ontario Liquor Board with 83 diffierent Icewines available easily through their stores. I wish I could see some of these here in Vancouver

[Steve_K]

Ah yes indeed - it's a big place!

They're coming from Ontario

[dcrockett]

I failed to mention that the Niagara Icewine is from the Inniskillin Winery in Ontario

[dcrockett]

Depending if your east or west coast of Canada. Some Westcoast Okanagan wines don't see the Eastcoast and vice versa.
These can be bought in liqour stores or VQA shops.
A couple of fantastic Okanagan Icewines are:

Quails Gate 2006 Riesling Icewine,
Westbank South, Okanagan Valley,
British Columbia $35cdn/200mL

See Ya Later Ranch 2007 Ehrenfelser
Icewine, Oliver, Okanagan Valley,
British Columbia.......$50 cdn

And a Eastcoast Niagara:
2007 Cabernet Franc Icewine
Niagara Peninsula,
Ontario........................$110 cdn