Ice wine is made from grapes that have been left on the vine to freeze. On purpose. They are picked by hand in the middle of the night after three or four consecutive nights of temperatures ten degrees below zero (celsius). Each tiny shrivelled frozen grape gives one drop of juice. It is labour intensive and you have to harvest a lot of grapes to produce each bottle so it is pricey, but it is worth it. Niagara produces world class award winning Ice Wines and I have loved every single kind that I've tried.
That's the sculpture that was the subject of yesterday's macro photo
The wine was kept cold in blocks of ice. It was too cold out for real grapes.
You could rest your glass on this coffee table.
While you froze your bum in this chair!
My BB went off yesterday and left me, I won't see him for almost three weeks. The Shaw Festival has taken a play on the road to Ottawa. Yes Ottawa. Everyone I love is now in Ottawa and I'm here, not in Ottawa, living the single life. The time will pass quickly though. I've got company coming for the weekend, and the weekend after that the soeurs are going to be together (woo hoo) because it's the big sister's birthday and she's going to be down this way and then I'm heading to Ottawa to hang out for a week. So, all in all, it's not that bad.
xo
Kath
That's some interesting ice stuff. I think it would be just too cold for me!
Posted by: Kristin | January 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Oh, my. That chair makes me hurt! Snowing here again...but no ice sculptures.
I love ice wine, too. Have you ever had ice beer? It is good, too.
Posted by: Wanda | January 27, 2009 at 01:16 PM
ice wine ~never have heard of it...sweet? dry?
your photos of ice made me smile...very random!
Posted by: ELK | January 27, 2009 at 02:36 PM
It's a sweet dessert wine, but not what you're thinking. Depending on the grapes and winery there are lots of different flavours layered into the wine. It's really lovely with a dessert of cheeses and fruit. Ideally the dessert should be less sweet than the wine so it's a bit much to have, say, chocolate cake. But poached pears and cheese .... very nice!
Posted by: Kath | January 27, 2009 at 03:42 PM