Inniskillin Gold Ice Wine Vidal

Inniskillin Gold Vidal Icewine is deep gold in colour, the icewine has abundant aromatics of apricot, peach and pineapple. Full-bodied, with flavours of mango, clove and orange peel which continue through the long finish, all held together by crisp bold acidity. 37.5cl

Inniskillin is now synonymous with top quality Icewine and consistently sets the bar at a much greater height than its competitors. They harvest at a higher brix level than the minimum set by the VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance in Ontario) and their wines have a higher level of residual sugar. This gives richer, more intense wines that merit their higher price. Inniskillin was founded in 1975 by Austrian chemist Karl Kaiser and Italian-Canadian agriculture graduate Donald Ziraldo, who worked tirelessly to introduce better vines and superior winemaking techniques to Niagara. In 1984, to make the most of the extreme Canadian winter, Kaiser produced his first Icewine – a pivotal point in garnering attention from the international wine world.

The Niagara Peninsula is a cool climate region and the mineral-rich soils are the result of melting glaciers that left behind large and varied deposits of gravel, sand and clay, as they receded approximately 13,000 years ago. Thanks to the warming influence of Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, the region’s temperatures during fruit-ripening are moderate and consistent.

The removal of ice crystals, separated from the frozen grapes during pressing, concentrated the juice which was then fined, cleaned and settled for seven days. There was no maceration. A selected yeast was used for fermentation for 19 days at a cool 15°C. Vidal was aged for four months in French oak and then in stainless steel until its release.

Vidal is a hybrid (Ugni Blanc and Seibel) that has a thick skin suitable for harvesting late in the season. It is the grape grown most for Icewine in Ontario.  It’s good natural acidity gives great structure to the lusciousness of its tropical aromas and flavors of mango and lychee.