Niagara-on-the-Lake and Ice Wine

Canada's wine region is very pretty. I realised that I'm a few weeks behind sending any news - so I hope to update the last 4 very busy weeks, and decided to start with our day trip out for the Niagara Ice Wine Festival.

The festival was a food and wine pairing and for those of you who are unfamiliar with Ice wine – it is a slightly thicker version of South African dessert wine. The discovery pass was our gateway to six Niagara wineries to enjoy VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance - not really sure what that is - but sounded cool to mention it) wine and culinary pairings throughout the Ontario wine district. Being a very sweet wine I had figured the pairings would all be sweet – but I was incredibly impressed with the savoury options we experienced. The first being chili (a mince base dish) and the second and rather strange choice, pad thai.

Sweet potato pie pairing - first farm

The process of producing Ice Wine is an interesting one. To make Ice wine, the grapes are left on the vine until after the first frost hits. These grapes are harvested after being frozen in the vineyard and then, while still frozen, they are pressed. They must be picked early - before 10 a.m. During both of these processes the temperature cannot exceed -8 degrees C (yes thats colder than even Sutherland in South Africa can drop to). At this temperature (-8 degrees C) the berries will freeze as hard as marbles. While the grape is still in its frozen state, it is pressed and the water is driven out as shards of ice. This leaves a highly concentrated juice, very high in acids, sugars and aromatics.

Chateau des Charmes - we just stopped in to check out the farm

No fences between the road and the vineyard

The farms we choose to visit were Lake View Estate, Hillebrand Estate, Pond View Estate, Marynissan Estate, Inniskillin Winery and River View Estate. I realise now as I read through the list that most of the farms names are water system names – but you must understand that approximately 15% of Canada is covered by marshlands.

 

Farm 2: Hillebrand

One of my favourite vineyards (“wine farms” appear to confuse the shit out of the average Canadian) was Hillebrand who served their ice wine with chocolate chili (a Canadian mince dish served with cocoa nibs which melted in the hot chili – the pairing gets a definite 9/ 10 for the amazing savoury aspect of it). Their ice wine had wonderful peach notes which definitely made it the winner of the day.

 NOT only that though - they had an outside fire going and the whole vibe was very cool!!


Having a break at the camp fire.



Still outside Hillebrand - can you tell we liked this farm?

 

Farm 3: Pond View Estate - just in case the name above didn't give it away

Another great pairing - both Vidal and Cab Frank ice wines tasted



And the snow was on its way...

  

Farm 4: Marynissan



Farm 5: AMAZING Inniskillin - say the name quickly - such a mouthfull



Inniskillin is a beautiful farm and the flurry had arrived strong and fast when we arrived at the farm. Their pairing was a Vidal apple tart topped with a dollop of freshly whipped Gewürztraminer cream. The winner of the sweet category of the day, but because of the farms beauty and the staff at Inniskillin I would rate it as my favourite all round of the day. A definite must if you are ever in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area.



Farm 6: Riverview Estate



It was but again – another great experience in Canada… Needless to say the drive home was entertaining with me having to use our snow duster (have no idea what its actual name is) for the first time. Driving in the snow is not for sissies… But ICE WINE – it's awesome – especially in the cold and snowy weather. Yum yum yum…

No this is not a black and white photograph

Watch this space: “Saint Lawrence farmers Market in Toronto” and “My first ice hockey game” coming soon.