It’s Icewine Festival time again in Nova Scotia, happening from Feb 3rd-13th, 2011. It hasn’t been a long-standing festival in Nova Scotia (4 years), since icewine is relatively new to the province (compared to our beers) but is increasing in popularity. I’m not going to try to pull your leg and come off as if I’m some sort of expert on icewines because I’m not. In fact, I don’t really know that much about wines at all except that I like to drink them. Well, some more than others and others more than I should.
The wine industry is growing here in Nova Scotia, and each year our wines win more and more gold medals at the, uhh, the... Wine Olympics. Okay, so I don’t really know where these gold medals are coming from, but they are advertised as gold medal winners on their bottles and they’re all listed on the Wines of Nova Scotia website. In fact, the industry has grown so much that we actually HAVE a wine association such as Wines of Nova Scotia that has developed a set standard of quality wines must meet to be part of the association and, in my opinion, is working tirelessly at promoting wines in this province. I will say that the standards have greatly improved the quality of our wine. (I would tell you the tale of the first time I tasted a Nova Scotia wine but I’ll save that for a later post.)
Now back to the icewine! Icewine is labeled as a dessert wine, meaning it’s sweeter in taste than “regular” wines. It is made from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine, which allows the water to freeze inside the grape and sugar to be more concentrated - hence the sweetness. The rest of the process I’m not too sure about but I do intend to find out this year at the Nova Scotia Icewine Festival. Here’s a brief clip on last years festival.
Have you tried the icewines here in Nova Scotia? Which ones would you suggest are a must and which ones are a bust? Let us know by leaving a comment or send us an email.
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