Ice Wine??

[Csara]

Ok, I need some help with this. I remember Meliz raving about it and M mentioning it somewhere so J and I picked up a bottle of Eissvien (Ice Wine) at duty-free in the Frankfurt airport. Do we keep it in the fridge? Freezer? What do we drink it with? Thanks in advance!

[meliz]

mmmmm... very nice!
I think you should store it in the fridge (or at least we did?).

As well, I like it as an after-dinner sipping wine... sort of a dessert-- it's very sweet. But I betcha it would also be good as an aperitif?

I have also heard of making a drink out of club soda and icewine. Though this is likely very tastey, in a way this seems to me that it might defeat the purpose of such a "special" wine?

[FarmGirl]

Oh yummmy!!! I love Ice Wine!!

You'll want to treat it just as you would any other bottle of wine. If you're wanting to drink it right away, chill it well in the fridge. If you're wanting to age it a bit, store it away, on its side of course, in a steady temp. area with a bit of humidity.

What to have with it? Well, Ice Wine is extremely sweet... around 20% sugar, compared to a good Muscat at about 5% sugar. I always serve our Ice Wine with some nice fresh fruit... such as honeydew, strawberries, mango, cantaloupe and papaya. Don't add anything to the fruit... just serve it plain, diced up into bite-size bits.

Another great way to serve Ice Wine, is to pour a little bit over some cut up fruit, as a syrup - its heavenly over some honeydew & strawberries mixed together.

I've never had German (it is German, right?) ice wine, but I've heard that it is very similar to Canadian IW. I'm betting you'll love it!

You won't want to have very much of it, as it is extremely sweet. I'm a big "hoarder", and don't like to share all my goodies very often, but whenever we break-out IW I share.... I can only handle a small amount of it its so very sweet.

Be sure to let us know how much you like it! :D I admit freely to being jealous... I would love to try German Eissvien, just that I can compare it to the Canadian kind I'm used to.

edit in - you'll want to be sure and drink it from the right type of glass, to get the full intensity of the wine. I don't recommend going out and buying special glasses, but use something similar.... you know, don't use a red wine balloon, but try to use a thinnish and deep glass. Here's a picture of what Riedel designed for Ice Wine...

http://www.thewineman.com/icewineglass1.jpg

[Csara]

Thanks for the info. I think we'll try it tonight. How long does it stay fresh once opened if you leave it in the fridge?

[FarmGirl]

lol - mine never lasted more than one evening ;)

I'd say about a week it should stay good. But I'm just guessing.