Tuesday, 3 July 2012

A Blanc de Noir Eiswein

Eisweins are made from pressing frozen grapes and fermenting the resultant juice. As the pigments are in the skins, very little if any would be able to colour the juice and hence eisweins are usually white regardless of the colour of the grape used to make it. True, most ice wines are made from white grapes but there is usually the odd one that can be found, which is made from dark grapes. This is one such example, from the Rhinehessen. The grape is Blauer Portugieser, which despite its name does not come from Portugal. VIVC lists its country of origin as Austria, and apart from Germany and Austria, it is also grown in Hungary where it is a permitted grape in Egri Bikaver (Bull's Blood). As for this wine, it was a golden brass colour with a sweet luscious fruity nose. Sweet acid and fruity on the palate with a hint of lychees, structure was given by a sour plum acidity turning to a sweet plummy finish. Nice!

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