I saw this wine in an upmarket supermarket yesterday and bought it. I had already blogged about the American German joint venture that resulted in the Eroica line of Riesling wines. This 2006 Riesling Ice Wine was only the fifth time in the 40 year history of the Washington State winery, Chateau Ste Michelle, that they have been able to make an Ice Wine, yet coincidentally, three times out of five, the harvest was done on 31st October as happened in 2006.
On that day, temperatures fell below 14degF (-10degC) and the frozen Riesling grapes were harvested from 2 to 6 am, from the Horse Heaven Vineyard at 37.6 deg Brix. Pressed whilst still frozen, the juice contained twice the concentration of sugar compared with normal grapes, and underwent a slow cold 8 week fermentation, giving a wine of 7.5% alcohol and a residual sugar of 261g/L. This special wine was awarded 93 points by Wine Spectator in 2009.
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