Inniskillin Gold Vidal Icewine (375ML half-bottle) 2018 Front Label

Inniskillin Gold Vidal Icewine (375ML half-bottle) 2018

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D96
W&S94
WS92
RP92
WE92

375ML / 9.5% ABV

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2019

W&S97
RP94

2017

WE95
W&S94
RP93
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JS92

2016

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2013

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375ML / 9.5% ABV

Winemaker Notes

Generous amounts of ripe fruit give aromatics of peach, mango, and orange. Flavors of apricot and citrus with hints of clove and a touch of vanilla make this a classic Niagara Peninsula Icewine.

Always good with the traditional crème brule and crème caramel; try tropical fruit compote, roasted peaches or pineapple with pana cotta; cheeses from fresh chèvre to parmesan with a dribbling of honey; brown butter lobster salad with baby arugula and hazelnuts.

Critical Acclaim

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D 96

Decanter

Gorgeous, inviting nose of apricot compote, bright apple, lifted white floral notes, a touch of mint and plush white nectarine, while the succulent palate is laced with candied citrus peel, sweet Christmas spice , nutmeg and a vibrant acidity.

W&S 94

Wine & Spirits

Inniskillin’s 2018 gold-label vidal ice wine stands out for the freshness of its flavors—with bright lemon, juicy peach and fresh date notes that add dimension and clarity to the darker tones of beeswax and baked pear. It is, in fact, very easy to drink despite its 240 grams per liter of sugar; some hard biscotti might help you pace yourself.

WS 92

Wine Spectator

Thickly textured and opulent, this dessert style reveals apricot, peach, jasmine and honey flavors. Lively and long, dried apricot echoes on the finish. Drink now through 2028.

RP 92

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2018 Gold Vidal Icewine was fermented for about three weeks in new French oak and then aged for another three months in French oak. It comes in with 234 grams of residual sugar, 10.5 of total acidity and 9.5% alcohol. On paper, this should be brighter and fresher than the 2018 unoaked ice wine, but the oak flattens it out. The wood gives it a lusher and richer texture but subdues both the fruit and whatever freshness it had. That's somewhat deceptive, as the acidity is still there, but the perceptible balance certainly changes. This just seems to be more on the stolid and brooding side. On the one hand, that means it never seems to go over the top in unctuousness, but on the other hand, the flavors are rather submerged. I'd personally rather have any of the unoaked versions, but reasonable minds might differ.

WE 92

Wine Enthusiast

A thick streak of pineapple slices through this dense, almost syrupy dessert wine. Candied fruits are at the core, a mix of apricot, peach, papaya and citrus. Running through the long finish are hints of brown sugar, maple sugar and honey. It is finished at 240 g/L of residual sugar.

Inniskillin

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Austrian-born and monastically educated, Karl J. Kaiser, and native Canadian Donald J.P. Ziraldo, a decendant of a family of winegrowers in Northern Italy, founded Innisklillin Wines on July 31, 1975, obtaining the first winery license granted in the province of Ontario since 1929. Located in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the historic Brae Burn Estate, Inniskillin was founded upon and is dedicated to the principle of producing outstanding wines from vinifera wine grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula. Karl and Donald tirelessly tested the new ground of Niagara, grafting old-world wisdom in the new-world terroir. Inniskillin rocketed to international notoriety when its pioneering 1989 Vidal Icewine was awarded the Grand Prix d'Honneur at Vinexpo 1991, and drew worldwide attention to Canada's burgeoning wine industry.

What is Icewine?
VQA Icewine is a highly concentrated dessert wine made by harvesting grapes naturally frozen on the vine at -10 C in December-January. Inniskillin VQA Icewine is internationally awarded and recognized and is exported throughout the world.

Canadian Wine

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With a cool climate suitable for more than just icewine production, Canada is also home to excellent dry, still and sparkling Canadian wines. Most viticulture is based in Ontario on the east coast and British Columbia on the west coast. Because of the high risk of winter freeze and spring frost, plantings are typically centered on large bodies of water to take advantage of their temperature moderating effects.

In Ontario, particularly on the Niagara Peninsula, aromatic white varieties like Riesling and Gewürztraminer are most successful. Many Canadian wineries produce both dry and semi-dry versions. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cabernet Franc perform nicely here as well. For icewine, French-American hybrid variety, Vidal, is popular. In British Columbia, many of the same grapes are grown, but there is also a significant emphasis on Bordeaux varieties—especially Merlot.

Other Dessert

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Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.

Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.

Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.

Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.

SWS517640_2018 Item# 813537