84 DECEMBER 2019
TRAVEL
A freeze
intensifies
the grapes’
sweetness;
festivalgoers
stay warm
while sipping.
T IS A FREEZING JANUARY EVENING OUTSIDE, but
inside the Jackson-Triggs winery, near the picture-
book Ontario town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, there is
the warm glow of Canadian hospitality. Winery chef
Tim Mackiddie (who has since been succeeded by
chef Kayla Mudford) grates a cascade of brown flakes
from a frozen foie gras torchon onto bite-size chunks of chilled
Atlantic lobster that are skewered on small grapevine skewers.
He hands one to me. “I’ve seasoned it with some yuzu citrus
and spicy togarashi,” he says, as I take a bite. A sip of chilled
2017 Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve Riesling Icewine follows.
The flavors and textures all merge into a lovely mélange of fruit,
acid, heat, and sweetness.
The next morning, under a snow-threatening sky, I reach
through bird netting to pick a cluster of Vidal grapes that’s been
left hanging for months in an Inniskillin vineyard, waiting for
the temperature to dip to the required 17°F (or even colder) to
freeze them for harvest. The grapes are cold and shriveled and
oozing with juice, like mushy ice to the touch. Nearby, a group of
winery hands battle the frigid temperatures as they dump tons
of harvested grapes into outdoor basket presses, squeezing out
their last drops of nectar. Though it’s January, these wines will
bear last year’s vintage date—the year the grapes were grown.
I am here for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival, held
annually during January on the Niagara Peninsula, which juts
out on the Canadian side toward the famous twin falls. With its
fancy ball, snow-filled street tastings, and sophisticated wine
and food pairing events featuring dozens of wineries—some
of which have dedicated chefs—the festival draws hundreds of
visitors from around the world.
I
Although ice wine originated in Germany (where it’s spelled
eiswein), Ontario is today the largest and arguably best-known
producer of this prized sweet wine. During the 1970s, a small
group of German and Austrian winemakers immigrated to the
region, and one of them, Karl Kaiser, produced Inniskillin’s first
commercial ice wine in 1984 (it would have been 1983, but birds
ate his first crop; he started putting nets over his ripe grapes
after that). Today, as members of the region’s Vintners Quality
Alliance, most Niagara wineries make both table and ice wines.
The winter-hardy Vidal hybrid is the favored grape, although
Riesling and Gewürztraminer ice wines are widely produced.
“But Vidal produces a purer ice wine,” says Reif Estate wine-
maker Rob DiDomenico, “because Riesling more easily contracts
botrytis [a fungus necessary to production of dessert-style Sau-
ternes and Tokaji wines], which changes the flavor profile of
ice wine.” In recent years, a light red wine made from frozen
Cabernet Franc grapes has added a delightful option for Ontario
winemakers as well as wine lovers.
Generally, ice wine is bottled immediately after fermentation,
although some reserves may spend time aging in neutral oak
barrels. “I often substitute Canadian ice wine for Sauternes
when the restaurant is serving foie gras,” says Adam Petronzio,
wine director at Porter House Bar and Grill in New York City.
“Ice wine has higher acidity and is generally lower in alcohol.”
I take the short walk from my hotel to the final weekend of
the festival’s Icewine Village, an outdoor tasting staged in a
cluster of white tents surrounding the town’s clock tower. There,
I join other well-bundled ice wine lovers as we make our way
through a maze of snow from tent to tent, glasses in hand. ( For
information on the 2020 festival, visit niagaraonthelake.com.) PHOTOGRAPHY: (FROM LEFT) CEPHAS-STEVE ELPHICK, VISIT NIAGARA CANADA (2)
