Ice Wines and Champagne for the Holidays

A delightful taste of Canada came our way over the holidays, but you may enjoy it year round. And it all started by accident. Ice wines were first produced in Germany in the late eighteenth century, when a snap cold spell before wines could ordinarily be harvested left the winemakers wringing their hands. There, instead of grapes ready for harvest, were frozen grapes hanging precariously on the vines. Well, with no other recourse, the imaginative vintners harvested what nature had left and processed the result. It is said that they couldn’t believe their tastebuds – and ice wines were born. From Germany the production, always minuscule and expensive, spread to North America. The wines I recently tasted came from Inniskillin, on the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, not far from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. They were delicious. The oak aged Vidal 2004 was honeyed, intensely flavorful, and went perfectly with our Croquembouche Christmas dessert. It was sweet but never cloying. The comparison to Sauternes is a natural one, but I must say that this ice wine had a more intense flavor than most Sauternes. Also, although we were drinking it in its first year, to my palate it seemed far more fully developed than would a Sauternes at the same stage. As a special treat, we also tasted the Cabernet Franc 2004 Ice Wine fom Inniskillin. I was looking forward to this wine with special interest, as a potential sweet dessert wine from red grapes. One always bears in mind that Sauternes has taste limitations. One can’t serve it with very sweet deserts, for example. And some like it with chocolate desserts, but I think that is pushing the taste envelope. Better have Sauternes with a bland dessert as a taste foil, and add either apples or ripe pears. That is a wonderful choice, but it is somewhat limited. That was why I was pleased to note that according to Inniskillin, the Cabernet Franc Ice Wine might well pair with chocolate-based desserts. We had it with dessert after a traditional winter dinner featuring roast goose. Dessert was a flamed plum pudding with brandied hard sauce. With curiosity, we wondered how the wine would stand up to those intense competing flavors. It was a wonderful wine, again intensely flavorful and sweet, but not cloyingly so. It was also a refreshing taste, a touch of chilled strawberries, setting off the dessert and not competing with it. I recommend this wine without reservation. Make sure that it is served well chilled, of course. And you could certainly serve this wine as a dessert by itself, if you chose. On the label, you’ll find the word “brix”. This is a measure of sweetness of the wine, and it will vary from 29% to an intense 56%. The Vidal we tasted was 40.5% Brix, and the Cabernet Franc 39.5%. That indicates a moderate sweetness, enough to be flavorful, but not overly so. As it happens, we visited Inniskillin a few summers ago, when we went to nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, for the Shaw Theatre Festival. The festival is an annual event from April to October, and you may get information on Shaw Festival from their website, www.shawfest.com. The scenery is wonderful, the food and wines to match, and the plays are well performed, a delight to experience. Inniskillin, a short drive from Niagara-on-the-Lake on the Niagara Parkway, has a range of wines, and now has an ice wine bar for you to taste and decide which wine is your own preference. In addition to those mentioned they have the original ice wine, made from Riesling grapes. (Vidal, with a thicker skin, is thought to endure the freezing and production process better). Some details about the 2004 crop may give you an idea of just how hard it is to produce these wines. Nature cooperated; to begin with, as a long Indian summer in 2004 (and where better for an Indian summer than Ontario?) ripened the grapes. Then an Ontario winter began, with freezing temperatures in mid-December. December 26 and 27 were deemed just right for harvesting (grapes for Ice Wine can only be legally harvested in Ontario when the temperature is well below freezing, and then the grapes must be crushed immediately after harvesting – volunteers anyone?), and the 2004 vintage harvest was completed January 17-20, 2005. Our champagne treat was sampling Champagne Bellefon was with Chef Yannick Cam has designated this creamy champagne the restaurant’s specialty, and in the elegant Lounge, a flight of Champagne Brut, Champagne Brut Rose, and Champagne Blanc de Blancs is offered. As readers will recall from my previous tastings, these are rather old fashioned champagnes, with a creamy style, acres of bubbles, and even 18th century style bottles! We had treats with each champagne. The Bellefon Brut, a blend of the traditional Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes, was served with Brandade Coquille St. Jacques. This was a light mixture of scallop and lobster in Chef Yannick Cam’s signature eggshells, a nice (and fewer calories) version of vol au vent. It went perfectly with the creamy Brut champagne. Next came the Blanc de Blancs, a pricier mixture of Chardonnay vintages, made only from this white grape, very creamy and with a rich mouth feel, quite luxurious. The duck foie gras (from Hudson’s Bay) with a bit of caramelized apple (and I believe I tasted quince) was excellent, and it had the interesting quality of making the champagne seem lighter than when tasted by itself. With the Bellefon  Rose Brut came a lobster ragout dish with roe sauce, some fava beans and white truffles from Alba. The rose had a long and pleasant finish. It is interesting to note that with each champagne, there was a somewhat different and contrasting taste with the food, and the mark of a fine chef,…