Among the wealth of wineries in the Niagara region, there may be no one vino variety more highly sought than ice wine.
The sweet dessert wine, made from grapes that were frozen while still on the vine, is a signature menu item for many wineries on both the U.S. and Canada sides of the Niagara area. But while Niagara’s prime ice wine season is in the winter, centered around the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival in January, there’s plenty of the premium sweet stuff available year-round – and you don’t have to go all the way to Niagara to get it.
Related: Dessert wines win the hearts of locals
In fact, it’s also a popular offering at a number of Lake Erie wineries between Ohio and Niagara.
Ohio
The most popular grape for ice wine is the vidal blanc, because it is harvested late in the season, and it’s the one used in the ice wine offerings of a plethora of Ohio wineries.
But neither of South River Vineyards’ two ice wines is a simple vidal. The winery – located in Geneva in Ashtabula County – makes a blush ice wine, utilizing vidal
and either chambourcin or cabernet sauvignon, and a concord ice wine.
It was 2001 when owner Gene Sigel, in his other job as vineyard manager for Debonne Vineyards, decided to experiment with a concord ice wine, not knowing if it would sell. A neighbor had found himself with a lot of frozen concord grapes he couldn’t use, and Sigel offered to take them off his hands.
The endeavor was successful enough to lead to Debonne’s first vidal ice wine and, eventually, South River’s blush.
Both of South River’s ice wines have rich, viscous mouthfeels because of the sugars in them. Sigel describes the blush as having strawberry and raspberry notes, and the concord as having a flavor reminiscent of grape jelly – a flavor he’s never seen anyone dislike.
“I have people who come in, order a bottle of concord and just drink the whole bottle by themselves,” he says.
The winery uses dense nets to keep the frozen grapes in place and hand-picks them, a process Sigel says yields better fruit, though it’s more costly.
South River’s tasting room is located in a 125-year-old church, and it’s out in the country, so the view stretches for miles.
“All you see are grapevines,” Sigel says.
A 125-year-old timber frame barn on the property is home to Sigel’s other business, Red Eagle Distillery, which makes bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey and vodka.
On Saturdays from March 7-21, South River will host the Grand River Valley Ice Wine Festival, hosting a variety of area wineries to show off their icy offerings.
Other Ohio ice wine destinations: Ferrante Winery, Laurello Vineyards, Old Firehouse Winery, St. Joseph Vineyard
Pennsylvania
Though it has a standard vidal ice wine on its menu, Arrowhead Wine Cellars doesn’t limit its ice wine options to just grapes.
The second ice wine made by the winery – based in North East, Pa., in Erie County – is its Franc ’n Berry. Its name is a reference to the breakfast cereal from the Count Chocula family, but it also describes the red raspberry juice added to the cabernet franc wine.
Arrowhead had been making the vidal for some time when it had the opportunity to buy some cabernet franc grape juice from Canada and ferment it. Ice wine with added ingredients isn’t technically ice wine, says owner Nick Mobilia, thus the clever name – the regular ice wine is just called vidal ice wine – but it certainly appeals to the same sweet-toothed audience.
“I tell you what, it just flew (off the shelves),” Mobilia says. “It was really good.”
The decision to put the two items on the menu was a direct result of the quickly-growing popularity of ice wine, especially with many travelers coming through the area on the way to big festivals in Niagara and the Finger Lakes. Arrowhead saw a sizable number of visitors seeking ice wine and adapted accordingly, Mobilia says.
“People are stopping and asking (specifically) if you have an ice wine,” he says.
The winery works with North East neighbor Mazza Vineyards to make its ice wine.
Beyond its lengthy wine list, Arrowhead hangs its hat on its gift shop, which Mobilia describes as one of the largest gift shops at any winery, and its large tasting room. It’s adjacent to the other family business, Mobilia Fruit Market, which sells peaches, cherries, grapes and more, and also has a pick-your-own option.
Other Pennsylvania ice wine destinations: Conneaut Cellars Winery, Heritage Wine Cellars, Presque Isle Wine Cellars
New York
The red and white ice wines at Johnson Estate Winery share space on the list with a decidedly rare offering: a sparkling ice wine.
The winery, located in Westfield in Chautauqua County, nets all 115 of its acres each year for ice wine. It started with a vidal ice wine, then added a chambourcin, then combined them into its newest offering.
“We make the U.S.’s first sparkling ice wine,” says owner Jennifer Johnson. “We made it using the champagne method of in-the-bottle secondary fermentation.”
The key to a good ice wine is a balance of sweetness, Johnson says; the flavors are concentrated, so the sweetness can be too intense if the wine isn’t made properly. Flavors will also vary from vintage to vintage because some years’ grapes are riper than others’, affecting acid levels, and also because flavors are affected by aging, as with other wines.
“Just as a bottle of dry wine from a wet rainy summer will taste different from … wine from a sunny hot summer, the same thing will happen to ice wine,” says Johnson.
The winery harvests all of its grapes by hand, which allows it to control the quality “from bud to bottle,” Johnson says.
Visitors to Johnson Estate can order its wines in flights, trying multiple vintages of the three styles. Johnson often advises customers to try the winery’s ice wines over ice cream and/or with sprinkled salted cashews.
Johnson Estate is the oldest estate winery in New York, having been established in 1961. Its operations are in a house that’s been in the family since it was built in 1920, and the property includes a 19th-Century barn and a stained glass wall, as well as stainless steel tanks for winemaking.
Other New York ice wine destinations: Merritt Estate Winery, Sparkling Ponds Winery
The Making of Ice Wine
Making ice wine isn’t as easy as waiting for the grapes to freeze before crushing them. They need to be at 18 degrees Fahrenheit for six hours to freeze thoroughly, and must be netted during freezing so they don’t fall off the vine. Then, they must be pressed at a temperature no higher than the low 20s, and they require specialized presses because frozen grapes are harder than their room-temperature brethren.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
