Inniskillin Winery -
The Wines of Inniskillin

Inniskillin has four main levels of wine production. Varietal wines here are non-oaked, in the $11.50 (Canadian) to $20 a bottle range. These grapes come in at 20-21 brix. Next comes Reserve, the "best of the bunches" which are oak aged, except for the Riesling. These grapes come in at 22-23 brix. Then they have Single Vineyard which are 100% from one specific vineyard in their system. Finally there is the Founders' Reserve which is barrel selected and presents a Burgundian style. The Founders' Reserve has a maximum of 1500 cases released.

An interesting statistic found on Canadian wines, but not most other countries' wines, is the sugar code. This relates to the residual sugar found in the wine and is a government requirement. A sugar code of 0 means that the wine is dry - it does not have residual sugar in it. A sugar code of 20 or higher means that the wine is quite sweet, and is usually a dessert wine.

We began with the 2004 Reserve Riesling. This wine is not oaked and has a sugar code of 0. It was very light, with an aroma of floral with a hint of citrus and grapefruit. "Most people overgeneralize that rieslings are sweet and fruity," commented Debi. This riesling showed how food friendly and crisp a riesling can be. It had a incredibly long, dry finish. It would go very well with a shrimp creole or shrimp scampi. $14.99.

Next came the 2004 Reserve Chardonnay. This was great, with a buttery richness sporting a touch of citrus and caramel as well as vanilla and tangerine. There was only a hint of oak, and a lovely, long finish. $14.95.

The 2004 Reserve Pinot Noir had a great aroma of cherry, and flavors of nice earth. We tried a few of the pinot noir grapes, which were just about ready for harvest, and they were surprisingly sweet. $17.95.

Icewines at Inniskillin

It was time to move on to the sweeter wines. Debi mused that "icewine is a frozen grape - but also a dried fruit". It provides many complexities of flavor along with its relatively sweeter aspect. Icewine is so different from normal wine that in 2000 Riedel developed a special glass for it, working closely with the Inniskillin winemakers. When winemaker Karl tried his wines in the new glassware, he told the Riedel owners that "this is how I always dreamt my ice wine should taste." The 2004 Riesling Icewine had a 19 sugar code and offered great peach flavors as well as hints of grapefruit and apricot. $69.99/375ml

We tried both the fresh vidal grapes and icewine stored grapes to compare them. The fresh vidal was sweet and light in flavor, while the ice wine version was more raisiny in flavor, with a stronger acidity to it. The 2004 Vidal icewine was rich and smooth, with apricot and tangerine flavors. Sugar code 23; $54.95/375ml.

The 2005 Vidal oak-aged ice wine was more caramel and buttery, with smooth rich flavors of apricot and honey. It only spends 3 months in oak, but it's enough to give extra weight to the flavors. This goes very well with creme brulee. Sugar code 20; $109.10/375ml

Finally, the 2004 sparkling vidal ice wine. This is light and bubbly, with gentle flavors of apricot. "With the sparkling wine, the bubbles cut the sweetness," offered Debi. It had wonderful flavors and a great finish. Sugar code 20; $54.95/375ml

I got a bottle of the 2004 Riesling Icewine to take home with us, as that was just about the ideal dessert wine as far as I was concerned. We had an amazing time at the winery with Debi, and I highly recommend this visit to anyone who can get away to the Niagara region for a few days! If you can't make it to Niagara, take heart in the fact that the wines are distributed in 40 countries. Talk to your local wine store and see if they can get some Inniskillin wine in for you to try and enjoy.

Inniskillin Winery History
Winemaking of Inniskillin

Wineries of the Niagara region, Ontario Canada

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