Dessert wine that makes you tap your feet
Today I drove down to the aquarium in Monterey, as the penguins are only there for three days. I have to admit, I have a little bit of a crush on penguins. They’re quite endearing. Hence the success of movies made about them. March of the Penguins instantly warmed my heart (along with some breaking), and Happy Feet seems to have a few fans at least.
As I watched the little guys swim about and recalled images of them skidding over ice, somehow it popped into my mind that the perfect wine for them would be Eiswein, as it’s known in Germany and Austria, or as Americans and Canadians call it, ice wine.
Ice wine can only occur when fully-ripened, unbroken grapes freeze on the vine. Depending on location, this could happen anywhere from late November to early January and often in the wee hours of the morning. Then the grapes need to be picked immediately and cautiously, rushed to the winery, and carefully pressed.
As the water is frozen, all that escapes is a super concentrated liquid with high sugar. Once fermented, the result is decadent syrup-like goodness that usually presents an ideal balance between acidity and sugar. The best can age for decades.
Some wineries have simulated the process by freezing grapes after they’re picked, and while that provides a cheaper alternative (they’re usually quite expensive due to low yields), it’s just not the same. The taste pales in comparison.
I’m eager to sample ice wine from Canada, who now has the title of largest producer, in addition to experimenting with a sparkling version. The best real Eiswein I’ve had was from Kracher in Austria, but my budget doesn’t allow me to taste many.
Of course, penguins probably can’t afford it either.
ice wine, eiswein, penguins, Happy Feet, March of the Penguins
November 21st, 2006 at 1:35 pm
i’m on a quest to try this crazy thing called ice wine…. i saw a bottle in trader joe’s the other day for 19.99…
November 25th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Doug, did you get it? It might not be all bad. I bought a TBA at Trader Joe’s for about the same price. They’re very similar to eiswein and sometimes as or more expensive. Haven’t tasted it yet…
January 1st, 2007 at 6:16 pm
[…] The last bottle I’ll mention, which was not necessarily the last one we had, was the 2003 Louis Guntrum Eiswein. I had to have it because A) Eiswien is not super easy to find and B) it had penguins on the label. While I was too full at that point to take notes on the wine, it did go amazingly well with the crème brulee topped with bananas. Other than that, it was not as rich as you’d expect an Eiswein to be and probably not quite worth the price. […]