Wine 101

Ice wine: A Canadian treasure
Canadian ice wines have gained international accolades and are ranked among some of the world's best. Ice wine is made from grapes that are naturally frozen on the vine. The freezing process removes water in the grape and results in a concentration of sugars. The end product is a sweet indulgent treat.

The price of prestigious wine
When buying ice wine, you can expect to pay more for less quantity than a typical bottle of table wine. "You are buying one of the most difficult wines to make," explains Sue-Ann Staff, award-winning winemaster at Pilliteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. "A 375 mL bottle of Vidal can cost $35 to $50," she says. "For Riesling or Gewurztraminer, a 375 mL bottle can cost $45 to $70." The price reflects the labour-intensive steps it takes to make great ice wine, plus the delicate nature of producing it offers less yield, making it a precious commodity.

A labour of love
To make ice wine, grapes must be hand-picked when the temperature is at least -8 to -10 C. For Staff and her colleagues, it often means working the vineyard late at night and into the early morning hours when it's bitterly cold. "I feel like it's an extreme sport," Staff says. "You get a thrill from it." However, she admits that working conditions can be uncomfortable and sometimes miserable. During the ice wine harvest, she often functions on adrenaline - a byproduct of her love for the finished product. "It's a pure love of the outcome," she says, describing the pleasure she finds in seeing the final product presented in a lovely bottle.

Staff offers these tips for buying and serving great ice wine:

• Spot authority on the label. "For your protection look for a VQA symbol on the bottle (for Canadian wines)," Staff says. "It means the production of the ice wine is put through a rigorous testing program."

• Check its pedigree. Consider which winery the ice wine comes from. Find out which ice wines have received international awards and try an award-winner. It's a surefire way to know that you're buying a good product.

• Don't serve ice wine in a shot glass. Staff suggests serving ice wine in 1.5 to 2 oz. servings but she warns that the glass should be large enough to allow enough "head space" so the drinker can enjoy the aromatics of the wine. If you don't have a glass that's designed for ice wine specifically, Staff suggests using a typical glass that you would use to serve white wine.

• Chill it. Staff recommends refrigerating ice wine for two hours before serving it, and offering it to guests right after pouring. Although, she notes, "some of the best ice wines will age." An aged ice wine will lose some of its sweetness, she says, but "a toasty flavour comes through as fresh fruit flavours dissipate." She likens the taste to wild honey. "You can keep them (ice wines) for up to 10 years," Staff says.

• Serve it with dessert. "The wine should be dominantly sweeter than the dessert," Staff says. To accompany ice wine, she suggests serving a simple, elegant dessert. "I recommend an exotic tropical fruit salad or a crème brulée."

• Serve it with cheese. Roquefort or any other blue cheese goes well with ice wine, says Staff, as the "sweet, lush acidity of the wine" cancels out the "salty, fatty, pungent" flavours of the cheese.