Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/10/28

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Totally OT: Canadian ice wine
From: manolito at videotron.ca (Emanuel Lowi)
Date: Fri Oct 28 21:54:22 2005

Canadian law requires the air temperature to be several degrees colder than
German law allows before the frozen grapes may be legally harvested for ice
wine (eiswein in German), hence the more consistent quality from the
Canadian product. 

But the German vineyards are often on extremely steep hillsides -- while
Canadian vineyards are fairly flat -- and so this superior drainage (vines
produce better grapes when roots are not damp) partially offsets the quality
advantage afforded by the stricter Canadian rules.

As a professional winetaster, I have no hesitation stating that the most
interesting Canadian ice wines are made from red grapes, especially Cabernet
Franc. These are generally the only table wines that match really well with
chocolate-based desserts.

Some of my photos of iced grapes being harvested have appeared in various
Reader's Digest publications.

Now if we could only get them to grow these grapes in Midland (alas, much
too far north), we'd be almost OT...

There is a German winemaker named Josef Leitz who makes eiswein on the
Rhine, though.

Emanuel