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Views from the Ontario Vines
with Fred Couch
Niagara Icewine Festival
By F.G. Couch
January is the time to celebrate the Icewine harvest in Niagara. However, with the exceptionally warm weather we have been experiencing lately, it seemed unlikely that the grapes would be picked in time for the Icewine Festival. For those who are not familiar with Icewine, the grapes have to be picked when the temperature goes below -8C for long enough so the grapes can be pressed while they are still frozen. We heard a collective sigh of relief when two windows of opportunity opened up. Henry of Pelham Winery which has very sophisticated equipment for monitoring the vineyards was one of the first to pick on December 29th. Most wineries decided to wait it out and, fortunately, another opportunity came on January 3rd and 4th. On those days, some areas of Niagara reached a bone-chilling -14C!
Ashley MacIsaacWith the Icewine harvest out of the way, winery owners and winemakers could enjoy the Niagara Icewine Festival. The Festival was held over three weekends in January. The festivities began with a masquerade gala at the Niagara Fallsview Casino on Friday night before the start of the Twenty Valley Winter Winefest held in Jordan. Over 30 wineries participated in this part of the Festival which featured a weekend of wine tasting, cooking demonstrations, barrel-rolling competitions, fashion shows, food samples, etc. For the first time, celebrations carried on into the evening with a concert by famous Canadian fiddler, Ashley MacIsaac. With finger-numbing temperatures of -6C and below, Ashley performed outside, almost non-stop, for a full hour in front of a toe-tapping and dancing crowd – just trying to keep warm!
Besides the food for sale prepared by local restaurants, participants could also try food from gourmet food trucks such as Gorilla Cheese, Gastronomo Vagabundo and The Toasted Tangerine.
On the second weekend the Icewine festivities moved to downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake. Main Street transformed into an Icewine village with jazz playing in the background and wineries pouring
samples of their liquid gold. Local chefs were on hand to prepare food samples to pair with some of the world's best Icewines.
Some of the events over the weekend included ice sculpture carvings, an Icewine cocktail competition and an outdoor hockey competition between Niagara's vintners. Unfortunately, because of the warm weather, the outdoor ice rink at Ravine Vineyard could not be used but the game carried on in the parking lot!
The festival also included a passport event over three weekends in January. Wineries in the Twenty Valley and in Niagara-on-the-Lake participated. Passport holders could visit six wineries for an Icewine and food pairing for a $30 passport.
We didn't purchase the passport this year but visited four wineries to check out what they were doing for the Icewine Festival. We started off at Inniskillin where we were offered a delicious northern spy apple tart with their 2007 Vidal Icewine – yum!
We also toasted marshmallows outside on an open fire and had them with the 2008 Vidal Icewine. There were other things going on but we were meeting people at Jackson-Triggs so had to press on! A tough job!
At Jackson-Triggs we took part in a “Winterland Cocktail hour”. We started out with a warm (I should say hot!) mulled wine with J-T red wine, apple cider, spices, etc. We were then poured a Niagara Kir Royal which was made up of 5 parts J-T sparkling wine and 1 part Cabernet Franc Icewine. The third cocktail was a Niagara Sangria made up of 3 parts red wine, 1 part cask brandy, 1 part cranberry juice and 2 parts soda water. We finished off with an Icewine Martini – 1 part vodka and 2 parts Inniskillin Vidal Icewine.
Peller Estates Winery was offering celebrity chef Jason Parson's signature Icewine marshmallows for toasting on outside fire places served with an oaked and unoaked Vidal Icewine.
These are just a small sampling of the events happening throughout the three weekends of the Niagara Icewine Festival. For information on next year's event and other Niagara festivals check out their website at www.icewinefestival.com.
News from the Ontario Vines: Barclay Robinson is the new winemaker at Ridgepoint Wines in Vineland. A judge has given Alvento Winery a three-month extension to sell off the winery. If a buyer or partner is not found by the deadline, the winery will be liquidated. Other wineries in the Niagara area up for sale are Maleta Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Crown Bench Estates Winery and Royal de Maria in Beamsville and many others. Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery has closed in Beamsville. However, the brand will continue and the wines made by Andrew Peller Limited. There are rumours that the winery building has been taken over by another prominent person in the Ontario wine industry and he will open up a winery on the property.
Photos by F.G. Couch
Previous Articles by F.G. Couch
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