WINE TRAIL: Area wineries harvest grapes for second ice wine vintage

The bitter cold temperatures last week helped winemakers at Niagara Landing and Schulze Winery in Burt harvest and process frozen wine grapes. The grapes will be used to make “ice wine,” a type of dessert wine that before last year local wineries were not successful at making. The reason was the weather wasn’t consistently cold enough.

“For three straight days the high temperature has to be less than 18 degrees,” Niagara Landing co-owner Jackie Connelly said.

Last week was certainly cold enough, with most high temperatures staying in single digits. Last year was also cold enough for the wineries to pick the frozen grapes, making 2008 the first time Niagara County wine makers could produce ice wine.

Grapes are left on the vine after harvest in the fall. The fermentation process occurs slowly after the grapes have been frozen and picked.

Niagara Landing began the harvesting of the frozen grapes on Saturday morning. A group of volunteers showed up in the bitter cold at 7:30 a.m. to pick the grapes. Treated to bagels and a cup of coffee, the volunteers started picking the frozen grapes at about 8 a.m. The group finished after two hours of picking Vidal blanc and Catawba grapes, and pressing continued into Sunday night.

Schulze Winery had its ice wine grape-picking Friday. Ann Schulze said a small group of regular workers and family picked Vidal blanc grapes, the traditional ice wine grape, as well as Catawba grapes.

“We decided to try them,” Schulze said of the Catawba grapes. “They have thick skin and it hangs well (on the vine). It’s going along nicely.”

Connelly said the wine could be ready sometime in late summer, or possibly fall. It all depends on how the juice from the grapes ferments.

“Every year is different,” she said.

Hopefully, the ice wine will not be all that different. Niagara Landing just learned Friday that Wine Enthusiast, a wine publication, rated its ice wine harvested last winter at 86 out of 100, and the wine will be featured in its April issue.

The fermentation process takes about four to six weeks, slower than most wines, Schulze said. That’s because the juice drips instead of flows, Connelly said. Last year’s wine has a sweeter taste, with hints of apricot, mango, papaya and some honey.

Source :- WINE TRAIL: Area wineries harvest grapes for second ice wine vintage

Heading into the year of affordable wines

The year 2008 will be remembered by wine lovers as the year prices came back down to earth but now that they have, can we afford them?

Unfortunately, it took a pesky recession to start the downward trend in prices in all categories, across the spectrum, and shows no signs of recovery. The future for high-end, high-priced wines looks bleak as consumers trade down to more affordable wines.

Here are some predictions for 2009:

- The era of the big wine conglomerate is over. The mega wine-booze companies will have to parcel off individual wineries as profits plummet and consumers demand more for less. This is a good thing. The more independence there is, the better for all of us.

- I am not hopeful for the Canadian wine industry this year, especially in Niagara where a dreadful growing season left many growers with grapes that withered on the vine. The red wines from 2008 will be a struggle for most wineries with riesling, sparkling wines and icewine about the only bright spots. My one wish is that the LCBO takes its monopolistic head out of the sand and allows Ontario wineries better access to the consumer.

- It is my hope, as it is every year, that consumers keep discovering the ultimate pleasure of riesling wines. Whether it's dry, sweet, semi-sweet or from Canada, Germany or Australia, no other grape offers the pleasure that a well-made riesling can provide.

- Grape varietals that will be in high demand are malbec for red wine lovers, Canadian pinot blanc for white wine lovers and red-grape icewines for dessert wine lovers.

- Wine tourism in both the Okanagan and Niagara will explode this year. With gas prices dropping and the U.S. dollar getting stronger visitors from south of the border as well as Canadians looking to stay close to home this summer will find what many of us already know -- our own wine country is the perfect place to unwind with good food, good wine and spectacular scenary.

- I enjoyed many a good wine in 2008 -- Opus One 1994 on an outdoor patio in Calgary, E&E Black Pepper Shiraz 2004 during my first virtual tasting, Wolf Blass Platinum Label 2005 while golfing with PGA tour player Stephen Ames. But, I must narrow it down to just one for my wine pick of the year. So here it is:

- Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling Barossa 2006 -- When picking wines of the year, it helps to have some fond memories to go with the wine. It doesn't get any better than a secluded white sand beach on the shores of Kangaroo Island, Australia, fresh-caught and grilled King George Whiting fish, and frosty glasses of this mostly single-vineyard riesling from Jacob's Creek. Steingarten is one fine drop of wine with distinctive aromas and flavours of fresh citrus mingling with minerals, smoke, hazelnuts, and a hint that it will develop petrol if cellared properly.

Source :- Heading into the year of affordable wines

Let the wine flow: Icewine festival commences

Delicious scents and wines were in abundance at the Taste of Sun Peaks event at the Delta Ballroom last night for the opening of the Sun Peaks Icewine festival. Businesses and vineyards of the Thompson Okanagan region came together to create a mouth watering event, sure to appeal to food and wine enthusiasts.

In its 11th year, the Sun Peaks Icewine festival got off to a great start. Adding new flavour to the event this year was Subculture Bistro's temari sushi. Temari sushi are made of rice topped with a thin layer of salmon, or other ingredients, and then shaped into small balls. A type of Kyoto sushi, temari sushi is made of cured or simmered ingredients.

Cheese from British Columbia was also a big hit of the evening, with three new cheeses featured this year. Farmhouse, a firm cheese with a hint of fruit and sweet milk, was delicious when paired with white wine. Two organic cheeses from Gort's Gouda Cheese Farm located in Salmon Arm were simply delectable. One was the Beaufort, a type of cheese made of cow's milk that goes well with white wine, and an aged Gouda, a famous dessert cheese and aged for at least two years.

It wasn't only the food at the event that tempted the taste buds. Wine connoisseurs were able to sample wines from five different wineries. Sumac Ridge, Stoneboat Vineyards, Twisted Tree, Tinhorn Creek Vineyard and Antelope Ridge had a great selection of wines to suit everyone's tastes with several red varieties as well as the popular icewine .

To go along with all this, an icewine event would not be complete without a little sweetener. Chocolate lovers savoured their wine with fresh fruit dipped into the chocolate fountain from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

The events continued today with All You Need Is Cheese… for Dessert , the Magic of Dessert and Wine, and one of the pinnacles of the festival, the Winemasters' Dinner commencing at 6:30 p.m.

Several events will be held tomorrow and Friday, ending with the Sun Peaks Progressive Tasting.

source :- Let the wine flow: Icewine festival commences

Niagara winery owner making icewine inroads in China

Charlie Pillitteri looks at the consumer appetite for icewine in China and sees it growing.

That means opportunity for his family's Niagara-on-the-Lake winery, Pillitteri Estates Winery, one of the largest producers of icewine in Canada.

"It's the biggest market in the world," Pillitteri said.

"There's (billions) of people there."

For several years, Pillitteri has been looking for avenues and business partners to sell the winery's Canadian-made icewine in China.

He's found them, most recently with a bit of help from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which gave him a two-year $108,000 grant in 2006 to study icewine prospects in the emerging economic superpower.

This week, the Niagara winery's grant was singled out in a Canadian Press story examining whether CIDA should still send aid to China.

The agency's industrial co-operation program, which matches Canadian companies with job-creating partners overseas, has been an especially broad target for skeptics and auditors.

The Stephen Harper government is reviewing the use of funds that are desperately needed in the world's poorest countries.

But Pillitteri has said he's met the goals of the program, created more than 30 jobs in China and guided them on human rights issues, such as hiring women. Pillitteri said he has spent about three times the amount that was given by CIDA.

Through the program, he has partnered with Chinese winemakers Xingiang Winery in Xinjiang and The Great Wall Winery in Beijing.

Pillitteri will soon sell Canadian-made icewine under a Chinese label through Xingiang Winery in northeast China. He's also been teaching his Asian partners how to make authentic icewine by crushing frozen grapes.

Fake Canadian icewine has been a huge problem in China and other Asian countries. Pillitteri said teaching the Chinese how to make icewine will help keep the integrity of Canada's most prized luxury wine product.

"We're selling them real icewine but also teaching them how to make real icewine.

"If they're going to make real icewine, they're going to have to make it the way we make it," said Pillitteri, who sells about $1 million of icewine a year in China through six agents.

More importantly, Pillitteri said he's trying to establish Canada as a global business player and find more buyers for a luxury product that has a limited market in Canada.

"If it really says to Canadians we better start waking up and be global players, we better start being competitive. Right now, we're not. We live in our own little world, and China's moving. China is doing what it's going to do. If we don't protect icewine it's going to be lost. That's the way I see it."

But Kevin Ker, a vineyard consultant based in Fenwick who has done fieldwork in China, sees a danger in helping the Chinese make icewine.

The Canadian wine industry has always positioned icewine as its premier product on the international stage, Ker said. China could make huge volumes of lesser quality icewine at cheaper prices as it has with countless other goods, he said.

"Theoretically, are you creating another competitor for your own product?" Ker said.

The flipside, Ker said, is that by introducing the Chinese to pricey icewine, more people might buy it.

Norm Beal, chairman of the Wine Council of Ontario, said other countries such as Austria and Germany are already making icewine and welcomes the competition.

If the Chinese get a taste for icewine, it could open up opportunities for other Canadian wineries.

Pillitteri isn't the only Niagara winery with ties to China.

In September 2007, icewine producer King's Court Estate Winery in St. Catharines announced it had sold 75 per cent of its business to Chinese winemaker Tongua Grape Wine Co. for $7 million.

Under the partnership, King's Court produces icewine in Niagara and ships it overseas while also offering viticultural advice to the Chinese grape producers.

article source :- Niagara winery owner making icewine inroads in China

Marynissen left mark on wine industry

To those who knew him, John Marynissen was a strong, passionate person who was a pioneer in the Niagara wine industry -- someone who cared not only about the quality of wine he produced but also the conditions of the grapes he grew that produced the award winning vino.

Marynissen, the founder of Marynissen Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, died Jan. 2. He was 84.

While friends, family and peers in the wine industry knew Marynissen as one of the leaders in the wine industry, to his daughter, Sandra, Marynissen will always be her dad.

"He was so passionate about what he did," Sandra said. "He enjoyed growing grapes and later making wine. Even when he retired at 65, he would never stop caring. I always sought input from him on winery operations. He was my father, mentor and best friend. He was the smartest man I knew."

As a father, Sandra said Marynissen was always a busy man, working two to three jobs to support his family.

When he wasn't working at the winery or farming, Sandra said her father would often take the family up to Northern Ontario where they would go fishing.

"He loved to go up north. The more remote the area, the better," Sandra said. "One of the fondest memories I have as a kid is going fishing and catching pickerel and rainbow trout. That was one of my father's passions."

Born in the Netherlands, Marynissen immigrated to Canada in 1952. One of his first jobs in Niagara was working on a farm picking fruit in Niagara Falls.

In the 1970s, Marynissen purchased a farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake where he became one of the first to plant vinifera grape varieties. Marynissen was one of the first to plant the Cabernet Sauvignon variety in Niagara.

A former Grape King, Marynissen founded Marynissen Estates Winery in 1990. Among his many accomplishments included winning the Cuvee award for best red wine in 1996 and 1997, winning the first Grapes for Humanity Award by Tony Aspler and a lifetime achievement award from the Ontario Wine Society.

Karl Kaiser, co-founder of neighbouring Inniskillin Wines, said he first met Marynissen when Inniskillin used some of his grapes for wine production. Kaiser described Marynissen as a down-to-earth individual who had a very realistic outlook on the Niagara wine industry.

"He had a good judgement on where the wine industry was heading," Kaiser said. "He was honest about his opinions and saw everything in a positive light. I appreciated that."

Kaiser described his friendship with Marynissen as a great one and the two had become close, especially during the many fishing trips up north.

"We talked about smelt fishing and grapes," Kaiser joked.

Kaiser's Inniskillin partner, Donald Ziraldo, said Marynissen was a true winegrower who had a great following with wine afficionados. Ziraldo said his friend was an honest and humble person who was there to lend a helping hand.

"Karl and I were always flattered when he complimented us for helping him when he needed some assistance," Ziraldo said.

Family friend Peter Buis said Marynissen was his mentor and helped him get into amateur winemaking.

"Some of my first wines were made using his grapes," Buis said. "He was always researching the different ways of growing grapes and mastered how to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. He was one of the best."

Buis said Marynissen was also a man of a thousand traits, and was an accomplished accordion player, played in a band and an experienced taxi driver in his native Holland.

"He also knew how to have a heated conversation," Buis said. "We would debate for hours."

Marynissen is survived by his wife of 57 years, Adriana. Sandra said above everything else in his life, Marynissen's first love was his wife.

"My mom and dad were 57 years strong. He loved her," Sandra said. "Dad would always tease her into an argument or two, but it was always done out of love."

Marynissen is also survived by his children, Anne, Sandra, John Jr., Thomas, eight grandchildren, brother Adrian and sisters Anny and Jo. He is predeceased by son Tony.

A funeral took place Tuesday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In lieu of flowers, the Marynissen family asked well-wishers to make a donation to the new St. Catharines General Hospital Fund in John Marynissen's name.

news source :- Marynissen left mark on wine industry

Touring ice wine county in Ontario

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario — They're out there now, chilling on the vines, long after the other grapes' fall harvest. The Rieslings and Vidals of Ontario's vineyards are destined for bottles of the region's "liquid gold": ice wine.

I had heard of the dessert wine before, even tried it once or twice, but I learned more about it — and came to appreciate it — in September, when a money-saving idea turned into an unexpected road trip. My destination was Toronto, but I discovered it was cheaper to fly to Buffalo and then drive or take a bus to my goal city. Rounding up three friends to split a rental car made economic sense, and setting aside a whole day to make the two-hour drive turned out to be brilliant. We stopped by Niagara Falls, of course, and then hit the road for wine country.

Driving to Niagara Falls from Buffalo, we could see from a distance a white plume of mist rising like industrial smoke from the falls. On both the American and Canadian sides, we gawked at the thunderous cascades.

I liked the Canadian side better, with its head-on views of both major falls and its carnivalesque collection of casinos, hotels and such attractions as the Guinness World Records Museum, an old-fashioned fun house and junk food galore. Though it was well before noon, we got hot dogs from a friendly teenage vendor who darted after us with a forgotten soda. What service!

Suitably fortified, we drove north to Niagara-on-the-Lake's Inniskillin, the winery that put Canadian ice wine on the map.

Since the 1970s, when a few aspiring winemakers recognized the grape-friendliness of the land and opened the first Ontario vineyards, the region's wine production has taken off, with wineries now numbering more than 100. In the mid-1980s, winemakers started to realize that the region's hot summers and cold winters might be suited to something far more valuable than table wine, and in 1991, Inniskillin's founders, Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo, entered their Vidal Icewine in a prestigious French wine competition and won.

A bottle of ice wine routinely sells for three or four times the price of regular table wine. No wonder other Ontario wineries soon got into the act.

The road to Inniskillin runs parallel to the Niagara River, which separates the United States from Canada and links Lake Erie to the south with Lake Ontario to the north. The fields look nothing like the ones in, say, Northern California or Tuscany: They stretch flat all the way to the horizon, the rows perpendicular to the river to let the breezes off the water circulate.

After visiting the vines, touring the cellar and learning about the complex chemical processes of winemaking, we gathered for the tasting. ("That's what you all came here for, right?" the guide asked jovially.) A few sips of the red and white table wines preceded the big reveal: Inniskillin's famed Vidal Icewine, which was fruity, thick and joltingly sweet.

Before we left, I asked our guide how I could volunteer for the harvest, which seemed as if it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She gave me an "are you crazy?" look, as if I'd just asked where I could buy tapeworms.

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FARE OF THE COUNTRY; Wine From Young Vines in Southern Ontario

NOT far from Niagara Falls in southern Ontario, venturesome wine-minded travelers will discover a region rich with young wineries. Like the Napa Valley of the early 1970's, the peninsula between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie is fertile territory for new, ambitious estates with big ideas. They are coaxing good wine from young grapevines and impatiently awaiting the nuances that come with older vines and more cellar experience.

Some 25 wineries -- 21 of them established since 1979 -- are cultivating grapes on 15,000 acres luxuriant with European vinifera vines. Entrepreneurs are so optimistic that applications for licenses to start 12 more wineries are pending before the provincial Liquor Control Board. Land values and planted acreage have risen. New buildings, German wine presses and sleek Italian bottling machines are appearing. And rising reputations are nudging revenues upward: Since 1990, sales of the peninsula's premium wines have increased 100 percent.

The region's top wineries are spread across a fruit belt that one enters minutes after crossing the bridge into Niagara Falls, Canada. All welcome visitors, and have inviting tasting rooms. It takes little time to go between wineries on the uncrowded roads.

Fields of apricots, apples, peaches and pears, punctuated by farmstands, come into view across a broad plain bounded on the north by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Niagara River and on the south by a ridge called the Escarpment. Most of the vines are scattered across the plain, with choice grapes also cultivated on the ridge's low slopes, which winegrowers call "the bench." The huge lake is the winegrowers' ally. Its air currents butt against the ridge, plunge downward over the benchland and circulate back across the plain. During the warm growing season, this rotation cools and dries the vines, preventing rot; in the spring, the cool air delays budding and prevents late frosts; in the fall and winter, the never-freezing lake moderates the peninsula's temperatures, preventing severe damage to vines.

Canadians joke that Americans, expecting tundra, are stupefied by the peninsula's vast vineyards. Such whites as chardonnay and riesling, the region's strongest suit, and reds like cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and pinot noir now feed a modern industry born in 1975. That's when the provincial government gave Inniskillin, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the first winery license since 1929, opening the way for more boutique wineries and ending the era of low-grade wines that date from the late 1800's.

Concentrating on the European grapes, these estates have radically altered Canadians' taste formed by simple mass-market wines made from native grapes like Concord and Niagara. Competition forced giants like Brights and Andres to follow suit. In 1988, the boutiques' victory was sealed when the provincial government banned the use of Concord and Niagara for still wines.

The best time to visit Ontario's wine region is mid-May through October. A non-meandering drive across the grapevine zone takes less than an hour, but it's more enjoyable to extend the trip by stopping at several wineries. Wine-route signs direct visitors to estates for a tour and tasting. Most wineries will give visitors an ounce of each varietal to try free of charge. Americans can bring home a liter of wine duty-free; most come back with two bottles, more than a liter, and are not usually charged extra duty and tax for the two. Wines range from $7 to $15 a bottle. (Prices are based on an exchange rate of $1.25 in Canadian currency to the dollar.)

At the nine leading wineries I visited in March -- Chateau des Charmes, Cave Spring, Henry of Pelham, Hillebrand, Konzelmann, Inniskillin, Marynissen, Reif and Vineland -- first-year oak barrels perfumed the air and stainless-steel equipment looked newly minted. (However, apart from the comfortable, woody tasting rooms, the esthetics were generally low-budget.)

"Ontario is in a very big experimental stage," said Karl J. Kaiser, the wine maker at Inniskillin. "I'm betting on pinot noir." He uncorked a zippy '92 auxerrois and a meaty '92 petite syrah, which visitors can try in the tasting room in a converted barn near the cool, spacious winery.