Brrrrr! We’re barely into winter and already most of the country is looking for winter warmers. So this might not be a good time to talk about an attractive must-have book called Ice Wine, but why not.
Icewine, or if you prefer Eiswein, is an anomaly in the world of winemaking. The Germans created Eiswein in 1794 and, until the Canadians came along in the 1980s, were pretty much the experts on producing an unctuous sweet wine from frozen grapes. Then, in 1984, Austrian émigré Karl Kaiser, working in Ontario, Canada, used the French hybrid Vidal to make ‘Eiswein Vidal’ and everything changed. Today, enterprising and hearty winemakers in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia are turning out Icewines to rival the best of Germany and Austria.
The unusual journey from naturally frozen grapes to sweet wine is documented in Ice Wine: Extreme Winemaking, an informative and attractive volume by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser. The co-founders of Inniskillin Wines set the stage for a fascinating read with a small, chilly footnote on the title page: ‘Luxury begins at …-10C.’
The slim book is packed with color photographs and charts that complement the three main sections: Art, Science and Taste. In ‘Art,’ the authors explain about extreme cool-climate viticulture, the grapes that survive sub-zero temperatures and such auxiliary, but necessary, subjects as ice crystallization; ‘To understand Icewine we must understand freezing and the formation of crystals.’
Karl Kaiser contributes an easy-read in ‘Scientific Icewine Concepts and Facts’ that supplies the ice wine consumer and winemaker alike with detailed practices and facts about making Icewine. Examining the handsome, vivid photos of nighttime harvesting and Kaiser in parka and watch cap standing amongst basket presses brimming with frozen grapes is a shivering experience.
In ‘Taste’ the authors conclude with what many would say is the best part, the tasting experience. Following a short section on the Riedel-designed Icewine glass, a recipe for an Icewine Martini and some words on taste anatomy relating to Icewines, there is a mouthwatering tribute on Icewine and Food, with recipes developed by Izabela Kalabis-Sacco, Inniskillin resident chef from 1988 to 2006, who succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 43.
Kalabis-Sacco focuses mainly on pairing sweet ice wines with food, but there is the odd savory recipe like Truffled Cream of Cauliflower Soup. Sommelier Marceus Delgado adds a brief essay on Icewine as aphrodisiac, wherein he concludes that Icewine is better than Viagra because it supplies energy through residual sugar and you can get it (Icewine) without a prescription.
If you’re building a wine book library, a fun and informative addition would be this book on one of the world’s great dessert wines – Canadian style.
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