Snow Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine 2016

Ice wine is a rare, dessert-style wine made from grapes that have frozen naturally on the vine, usually in very cold climates. When picked and pressed in their frozen state, these grapes yield a highly concentrated, sweet juice, resulting in a rich, complex wine with vibrant acidity and intense flavors.

Cabernet Sauvignon ice wine is especially unique and not common because Cabernet Sauvignon is a late-ripening grape that requires specific, extremely cold conditions to freeze while still on the vine. This variety also imparts bolder flavors than the more commonly used white ice wine grapes, giving Cabernet Sauvignon ice wine a rich, deep fruitiness with notes of dark berries and a distinctive tannic structure, setting it apart from the more typical, lighter-style ice wines.

The frozen Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Snow Ridge Niagara Falls were harvested in late December 2016 when temperatures fell between -10ºC and -13ºC. After settling the juice in stainless steel tanks, cool fermentation was completed in late February when the wine was placed outdoors to stop fermentation and complete natural cold stabilization. The wine was stored in stainless steel for eight months before being filtered and bottled. 

375 mL