Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine (375ML half-bottle) 2019
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Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The red berry characteristics of the vinifera grape Cabernet Franc translate as an Icewine into strawberry like aromas and flavors. This Icewine is completely different from the white Icewines. The color comes from pressing only as there is no skin contact during fermentation. The earlier it is harvested, the darker the color and the deeper the flavors.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Cabernet Franc, both still and sweet, is a rising star in eastern Canada. As an ice wine it's rare and distinctive, aromatic and focused. Honey, molasses, caramel, bubble tea, sweet tobacco, candied apricot, blueberry and blackberry jam mark the dizzying mix of flavors. There's enough tannin to cut through, and this very special wine makes a splendid dessert all by itself.
Editors' Choice -
Decanter
Opulent aromas of intense, lush strawberry jam on the attractive nose, then on to a super concentrated palate of plush, rounded rich red fruit. Very attractive!
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cabernet Franc Icewine comes in with 265 grams of residual sugar, 9.6 of total acidity and 9.5% alcohol. This was bottled in January of 2021. This is probably the most distinctive of the winery's offerings because of that Cabernet Franc base. You won't mistake it for anything else—the pink-red color will give you a heads up before you see the label or taste it. Yes, you can tell on tasting it too—there are hints of herbs and a touch of charred green veggies, even if mostly subdued by the ice wine process and the sugar, to go with the typical unctuousness of the brand. I really liked the difference this year, as this showed off its personality as well as some of its freshness. The price references a half bottle.
Other Vintages
2017-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
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Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine
What is Icewine?
VQA Icewine is a highly concentrated dessert wine made by harvesting grapes naturally frozen on the vine at -10 C in December-January. Inniskillin VQA Icewine is internationally awarded and recognized and is exported throughout the world.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
With a cool climate suitable for more than just icewine production, Canada is also home to excellent dry, still and sparkling Canadian wines. Most viticulture is based in Ontario on the east coast and British Columbia on the west coast. Because of the high risk of winter freeze and spring frost, plantings are typically centered on large bodies of water to take advantage of their temperature moderating effects.
In Ontario, particularly on the Niagara Peninsula, aromatic white varieties like Riesling and Gewürztraminer are most successful. Many Canadian wineries produce both dry and semi-dry versions. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cabernet Franc perform nicely here as well. For icewine, French-American hybrid variety, Vidal, is popular. In British Columbia, many of the same grapes are grown, but there is also a significant emphasis on Bordeaux varieties—especially Merlot.