Icewine Harvest 2009

The 'Big Wait' is finally over! Another successful Icewine harvest has come and gone, with great expectations for the final product. The harvest took place on Friday January 29th starting at 7 am, and lasted about three hours, in order to get all of the grapes off the vine.

Wine and Viticulture student, Gerry Davies provided his own insights regarding the harvest quoting "It was 7 a.m, dark and snowing, with a wind chill of -19C. Being out in the vineyard with my classmates (although one would be hard pressed to identify them with all of the gear they wore) all working together, laughing and joking, was good fun. With three classes of students out there, we had the entire vineyard harvested in under three hours, with the fruit of our labours ready to be pressed into Icewine. Although it was cold, the experience of harvesting Icewine grapes was well worth it, and of course Dr. Tom's coffee and donuts helped a lot!"

Head winemaker Terence Van Rooyen noted that although the conditions were rather challenging to start, about half way through the harvest the snow squalls cleared, the sun came out and the temperature went up to about -10 C. The varietals that were harvested include: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay and Riesling.

Overall, it was a great harvest and provided a fantastic experience for the students of Niagara College Teaching Winery.

Staying in the theme of Icewine, here is a fantastic recipe to be paired with our 2008 Dean's List Cabernet Franc Icewine. Recipe is courtesy Chef Alan Kerr. This pairing allows you to experience the taste sensation of sweet wine meeting a savoury meal. It is definitely a pairing that is outside of the box, and demonstrates that Icewine doesn't always have to be served with dessert.

Duck Breast and Creole Apricot Mustard Sauce
240 ml Apricots
180 ml dry white wine
30 g minced shallots
20 g crushed peppercorns
15 ml cracked black pepper
60 g Dijon Mustard
240 ml Mayonnaise
45 g honey
2 g salt to taste
2 duck breast fronts
Baguette

For the Sauce:

Cover apricots overnight in the white wine. In a saute pan, sweat the shallots and peppercorns in the oil, do not brown. Add the wine and reduce until the wine is almost evaporated. Cool. Add remaining and mix well. Refrigerate.

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Score the far on the duck breasts diagonally in a criss-cross pattern. Season with salt and pepper. Pan fry breasts fat side down to render fat for 2 to 3 minutes. Roast in the oven until medium rare. Cool.

Plate sliced Duck on a cut baguette and drizzle with mustard sauce.

Enjoy!

The Wonders of Liquid Gold: A Lesson in Icewine

It is that time of year again! The weather conditions are finally perfect for harvesting Icewine grapes here in the Niagara Peninsula.

One might assume that Icewine is an innovation that was founded here in Canada. Canada is well known for it's ice and snow, right? Although Canadian wineries are becoming more and more recognized for the production of Icewine on a global scale, the founding fathers of Icewine are actually those from the cool climate viticulture regions of Europe, Germany and Austria. Icewine was initially founded in the late 1700's in Germany.

The tradition of producing Icewine made its way to Ontario in the early 1980's and to this day is one of Ontario's most precious gifts of winter.

Icewine is made from grapes that have been left to naturally freeze on the vine. These grapes are generally left on the vine until December or January.

Due to the winter weather conditions, the grapes left on the vine become dehydrated, thus concentrating the sugars within the grape. Under VQA regulation it must be at least -8 to -10 degrees Celsius to initiate your Icewine harvest. Some wineries use mechanical means of harvesting the grapes, and some harvest by hand. Here at the Teaching Winery, the students will harvest the Icewine grapes by hand as a part of their learning experiences. Harvest could take place in the day, but generally will occur at night when the temperature is at its coldest, and there is no risk of the grapes thawing out.

At the point of harvest, the water within the grapes is frozen solid, which allows it to seperate from the sugars and acids in the grape. There is little, to no water (from the grape) that is used for Icewine. When the grapes are harvested, they are immediately pressed.

Since the water is frozen solid, all that is pressed out of the grapes is the sweet concentrated nectar (sugars, acids). Very little juice comes out of each grape. The yield for Icewine is only about 5%-10% compared to grapes used for table wine. Therefore if a section of vineyard yielded 100 litres for table wine, the same section of vineyard would yield only 10 litres if made into Icewine.

Icewine is a sweeter style wine with very concentrated aromas and flavours. Icewine can be made from a variety of different grape varietals. Here at the Teaching Winery we currently have our 2008 Cabernet Franc Icewine on the shelf. It has beautiful aromas of honey and strawberry jam, and follows with a very similar palate. This wine pairs very well with a piece of dark chocolate!

Stay tuned for our "Icewine Harvest" Blog to come shortly! Once the students return from winter vacation, and it gets cold enough, we will begin the Icewine harvest!

Cheers