BY SHARI DARLING

At John Ash & Co. Executive Chef Jeffrey Madura discovers the Joys of Icewine.

Chef Madura, age 39, first learned about Canadian Icewine while participating in the 1999 California Food & Wine Fair held in Banff Springs Resort, Banff, Alberta. A chef for the past 20 years in California, Madura was chosen to assist John Ash in representing California’s food and wine at the weekend long event, hosting lunches, dinners and demonstrations for more than 750 guests per day. As a gift of appreciation, the Canadians presented John Ash, Jeff Madura and his crew each with a bottle of Icewine.

"I fell in love with Icewine," says Madura. "I love making desserts, although I’m not a big dessert eater. "Having a glass of Icewine is great on its own. It has so many wonderful intense fruit flavors."

As Chef Madura suggests, if your guests decline dessert, you can suggest they end the meal with an ounce or two of Icewine. Ideal on its own, Icewine possesses a characteristic intense sweetness with a balance of high acidity — a perfect combination to satisfy one’s sweet tooth without leaving a cloying sensation on the palate.

What exactly is Icewine? In Canada, grapes are grown and produced in the cool climate viticultural regions of Ontario and British Columbia. Produced in the winter, the Riesling or Vidal grapes are left to freeze on the vines at -8 degree Celsius or lower, under a cloak of protective netting. (Black birds are Icewine aficionados and know instinctively when the grapes are ripe for the eating.) Painstakingly hand harvested at night, the grapes are gently pressed while frozen before the morning sun can thaw them. The ice crystals remain solid, so the only liquid to flow from the grapes is a delicate nectar intensely flavored with natural sugar and a good backbone of acidity. This nectar is expertly guided through fermentation to achieve a rich and alluring specialty called Icewine.

Icewine is the ideal partner for most desserts, ranging from bitter sweet chocolate and nuts to tropical fruit based desserts and cheese. (Avoid any chocolate based dessert too rich in sweetness. You want to make sure the wine is always sweeter than the dessert.) Icewine possesses aromas of lychee, apricot, pears, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Honey, mango, tropical fruits and spices fill the palate.

California cheeses are also a great match for Icewine, says Madura, who recently conducted an Icewine and California cheese tasting at his restaurant. While a wide variety of Icewines work with the cheeses, he stresses that the partnerships must be sampled side by side ahead of time to ensure the flavors work together.

"A lot of times cheese and wine combinations you THINK work, don’t," says Madura. "So, the same rule applies to Icewine. Take blue cheese for example. The taste and its ability to marry to Icewine depends on the level of mold in the cheese, as well as the intensity of flavor. One type of blue cheese might marry well, while another overpowers the Icewine. It really comes down to a taste by taste basis."

If chefs are interested in serving Icewine with California cheeses, Madura has concluded — after much experimentation — that Inniskillin’s Oak Aged Icewine generally works well with all the cheeses. If you have little time to conduct experimentations yourself, you can be assured that this Icewine will work with the cheeses you have on hand in the kitchen. (Check out Jeffrey Madura’s Icewine and cheese matches in the following chart.)

While many Ontario wineries produce this Canadian gem (Henry Of Pelham Winery, Konzelman Estates, Chateau des Charmes, Reif Estates, to name a few), Inniskillin’s Icewine (Niagara Peninsula) is recognized as one of the world’s finest specialty wines. In fact, President Donald Ziraldo, known as the Robert Mondavi of Canada, was the first to enter his Icewine in 1991 Vin Expo, the world’s most prestigious wine competition. Inniskillin Wines captured the Grand Prix d’Honneur (higher than a gold medal) for their 1989 Vidal Icewine. This success put Canada on the wine world map and created a media frenzy at home! Since this time Inniskillin Icewine has won numerous International awards, including the 2002 International Wine and Spirits Competition, Sydney International Wine Competition and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. Their 1995 Icewine was also selected as "Wine of the Year 1997", Air Ontario Awards. Inniskillin Icewine is in demand in such places as California, Japan and China. Due to the quality of their product and their outstanding reputation, Inniskillin Icewine tends to be pricier than the rest, but worth every penny. The winery stands for quality. And when it comes to Icewine....REMEMBER...you get what you pay for! Refrain from investing in any Icewines under $65 per 350 mL bottle! The reason is that inexpensive Icewine tends to possess an imbalance of sweetness to acidity. In other words, the wine tastes like overpriced liquid sugar. For more information on purchasing Icewine for your restaurant, visit their website at: www.inniskillin.com

Serving Icewine

Icewine unopened and stored on it side in a cool (55-65 degrees F) place, away from vibrations and strong smells, can keep up to 10-18 years. The aging is also affected by the Growing Season. Some years were better than others and therefore the wine will age differently...if you have a specific year, we can advise you on how long you can store it. Icewines as they age darken in color, as well as increase in price. If you save it for a special occasion, you certainly will not be disappointed!

Enjoy Icewines in their youth or aged for many years. Icewines in their youth offer fresh fruit and are crisp and clean. Older Icewines tend to have a greater degree of depth, complexity and wide range of intense aromatics. As Icewines continue to age, the naturally concentrated acidity present lingers and follows through for a unique and harmonious balance.

Pairing Icewines with food can prove an interesting adventure. Icewines will pair with most fruit-based desserts - Tropical, pitted, red, citrus, pear, and apple, foie gras - pan seared or terrine, strong and rich veined cheeses, and spicy Asian cuisine. What should be avoided are extremely sweet and chocolate based desserts, as they will diminish all the wonderful enlightening natural acidity in Icewine and create a cloying unpleasant effect on your palate. Actually chocolate is generally an enemy of most dessert wines. We highly recommend you first savor the luscious seductive nectar on its own and then introduce the dessert.

Refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours prior to serving.

Serving temperature 5 - 8°C.

Pouring 2 oz is usually sufficient

Opening -Once an Icewine has been opened, you have about 3-5 days to finish it ... this is usually not a problem! Once a wine of any type is exposed to air, it begins to oxidize slowly. If left open too long, it tastes and smells bitter.

Stemware - Realizing the need for an appropriate style of glass exclusively for Icewine, Inniskillin invited 10th generation Austrian glassmaker, Georg Riedel, President of Riedel Crystal, to conduct a workshop with selected wine experts. What has resulted is the creation of the Riedel Vinum Extreme Icewine Glass, designed exclusively for Inniskillin Icewine, as part of Riedel’s latest "Vinum Extreme" series. To find out more, please visit www.riedel.com Order on line visit the e-boutique at www.inniskillin.com

Executive Chef Jeffrey Madura’s Icewine and California Cheese

Tasting Chart

These are the tasting notes for the marriage of Inniskillin’s Oak Aged Vidal Icewine and a variety of California’s Cheeses.

Sonoma Cheese Factory ‘Pepper Jack’

www.sonomajack.com

Almost all of Sonoma Cheese Factory’s specialty cheeses work with the Icewine and are best served for those who dare to experiment. The Pepper Jack and Icewine was an interesting pair. The heat from the cheese makes the wine floral and fruity. The two together actually bring out unique characters that would probably get overlooked otherwise.

Bellwether Farms Carmody Cheese

www.bellwethercheese.com

This Icewine and cheese combination enhances the richness and depth of flavor in the cheese.

Three Sisters Farm ‘Sarenah’

www.threesisterscheese.com

The cheese held its own. The cheese’s nutty flavor brought out the sweetness in the wine.

Marin Cheese Company ‘La Petite Creme’ Brie

www.marinfrenchcheese.com

This wonderful Brie was a PERFECT match for this Icewine.

Winchester Cheese Company ‘Gouda’

www.winchestercheese.com

One of the richest cheeses around CA, need pears and apples to tie in the flavors in the wine.

Marin Cheese Company ‘Rouge et Noir Schloss’ Brie

ww.marinfrenchcheese.com

While the nose, alone, on this cheese will keep many away, the marriage between the two was just right! The wine’s sweetness played down the tangy character of the cheese.

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company Blue Cheese

www.pointreyescheese.com

Blue cheese and white wine. Here’s a combination that can only be described as purely decadent.

Bellwether Farms Fromage Blanc

www.bellwethercheese.com

This little cheese was a bit overpowered by the Icewine; best with small sips. The cheese also made the wine a little less sweet.

Vella Cheese Company Dry Jack

www.vellacheese.com

A great rich cheese with lots of character. The rich honeyed tones play well off the tangy Jack cheese.

Vella Cheese Company ‘Mezzo Secco’

www.vellacheese.com

Little softer tones of flavour compared to the dry Jack. Went very well with the richness of the wine.

Inniskillin

The Story of Canadian Icewine

By Stephen Ashton

INNISKILLIN'S DYNAMIC DUO DON ZIRALDO AND KARL KAISER, THE PIONEERS OF CANADIAN ICEWINE WITH VIDAL GRAPES

Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Canada

When Austrian-born Karl Kaiser, homemade wine in hand, wandered into Donald Ziraldo’s family-run nursery in 1971, neither man imagined that they would become partners and more surprisingly, world renowned visionaries largely responsible for creating a wine industry and a new cool climate viticultural region.

Karl had been buying "French Hybrid" vines to make wines similar to those he enjoyed back home in Austria. On frequent visits to the nursery, Karl would suggest Donald sell, instead of Hybrids, the prized European clones – Vitis Vinifera – which were virtually unavailable in Canada at the time. Like everyone else, Donald was told that the sensitive Viniferas could not survive the harsh, cold winters of the Niagara Peninsula. Having tended vines in Austria, Karl knew this was a fallacy. Foremost, Ontario runs on the same latitude as areas in France. Secondly, Ontario possessed a terroir (geography, climate and soil) ideal for growing European varieties that flourish in cool viticultural climates.

Donald was taken by the idea and against the advice of "experts" decided to plant Vitis Viniferas on his family farm. By 1975, the two renegade wine-lovers were granted the first winery license in Ontario, Canada, since Prohibition, 1929, by General George Kitching. Their first vintages "were actually undrinkable," Ziraldo says. But through trial and error, and a stroke of good luck primed by determination, the wines, over time, began to be noticed. The real turning point, however, came in the 1980’s after Karl, remembering the joys of Austrian and German wines made from frozen grapes, returned to Europe to discover the secrets of this nectar which, due to weather, could only be made a few years out of each decade.

By 1989, Inniskillin was making Icewine from Niagara Peninsula Vidal grapes. Donald optimistically entered the 1989 vintage into the 1991 VinExpo International Wine Competition, the most prestigious wine competition in the world, held in Bordeaux, France. Although personally delighted with their succulent product, Ziraldo and Kaiser were as amazed as the rest of the wine world when Inniskillin was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix d’Honneur! (Higher than a gold medal.) This success opened the eyes of wine lovers and wine writers from around the world, and put Canada on the wine world map. In Canada the winery was bombarded with international media demands. Inniskillin Wines, while already successful among wine lovers, became a household name with their Icewine becoming a national treasure.

Since 1991, Icewine has become a highly priced and treasured mainstay of Inniskillin and other Canadian wineries. It is sold in North American and around the world, such as in Japan and China.

Icewine is said to have been discovered in Franconia, Germany in 1794 when a snap freeze caused the growers to harvest grapes off the vines while frozen solid. Pressing off these grapes in the bitter cold caused the first juice released to be extraordinarily sweet! The same methods, although a bit more refined, are in effect today. While Germany and Austria still make fine Eisweins, it is Ontario, Canada that has become the most awarded region for Icewines and the world’s biggest producer.

It is vital that the frozen grapes are hand picked and pressed in the cold of night so that the morning sun does not thaw them. The process is carefully monitored, because the pressing must stop before the sweet juice becomes diluted. Yields are therefore only about 1/10th of what a normal harvest would bring. A lengthy fermentation process follows, and even though the wines can be as high in alcohol as most white wines, about 11%, they retain a substantial amount of natural sugars, about 160 grams/liter. However, the grape’s natural acidity balances this sweetness to perfect harmony, so as not to leave a cloying sensation on the palate. The wines are typically golden and brilliant, with aromas of apricot, pears, lychee, nutmeg and vanilla. Complex flavors of honey, mango, tropical fruits and spices are characteristics that drive aficionados back to them year after year. Heady and delicious as an aperitif, Icewines partner well with foie gras, fresh fruit dishes, desserts and some rich seafood dishes.

Vidal in the most common varietal for Icewine, but Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, and other varietals make excellent dessert wines, each with unique nuances.

Donald Ziraldo has championed the Niagara Peninsula region as one of the chosen viticultural areas of the world and now more than 40 wineries are producing Icewines.

Not ones to rest on laurels, Ziraldo and Kaiser pursue other Vinifera varietal wines that also gain unexpected praise. Niagara grown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines are making names for themselves in national and international competitions, as well.

Wineries in the area, such as John Howard’s Vineland Estates, are planting tests of many different varietals in the quest for finding the very best clones suited for particular micro-climates within the appellations of the Niagara region. The area is also a favored travel destination. World class restaurants, like Mark Picone at Vineland Estates Winery, are creating magnificent food/wine pairings.

Ziraldo, who travels more than half of the year, spreads the word about fine Canadian wines. He pays special attention to the food and wine experience at the finest restaurants in the world. He is quick to recognize excellence, such as the special presentation he made recently upon the occasion of Toronto’s Opus Restaurant On Prince Arthur’s recognition as one of the TOP FIVE best restaurants in North America. (See "Toronto-Great Places, Great Chefs" in this issue.)

Donald Ziraldo is acknowledged as evangelizing the Canadian wine regions in the same way that Robert Mondavi brought the world’s respect to Napa Valley. Ziraldo was appointed in 1993 to the Order of Ontario and then in 1998 was awarded the Order of Canada, the nations highest honour for lifetime achievement.

Donald Ziraldo continues to lead the industry into the future. He is the Founding Chairman of the Vintner’s Quality Alliance (VQA), a body that regulates the industry for quality standards. The VQA is similar to France’s Appellation Control (AOC) and Italy’s DOC.

LEFT,ONTARIO MINISTER OF TOURISM CAM-RIGHT, GRILLED PORK WITH FOIE GRAS, SALSIFY AND LEMON THYME CONFIT .

LEFT,SEARED SCALLOPS WITH THE CANADIAN STURGEON CAVIAR AND CHIVE BEURRE BLANCE SAUCE-THAT IS A MOUTHWATERING DELIGHT WITH INNIDSKILLIN'S MONTAGUE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR. RIGHT, DON'S FRIEND ANN, DON ZIRALDO OF INNISKILLIN IN OPUS WITH SCULPTURE BOTTLE OF THEIR BEST ICEWINE.

Food and Beverage International Film and Travel Editor Stephen Ashton is, photographer,writer,and winegrower of Ashton Vineyards Pinot Noir and Syrah, and Founder/Director of the Wine Country Film Festival.