I’m currently in Quebec City and will pass through Ontario in a few days when driving back to NY. Any recommendations for ice wine that I can bring home? If it’s unavailable in the US, even better. Thanks.
Royal DeMaria - really, really good. http://www.royaldemaria.com/
From the experts in posting following mine…I see my suggestion was not well received. Oh well, I liked the few bottles I tasted. Never visited any place up there.
Hmm. I suppose I’ll need to skip the 2000 Chardonnay Icewine. $250,000 per bottle is a bit above my price range.
1/3 ice wine, 2/3 sparkling for a Canadian “champagne” cocktail.
Speaking of cocktails, I went looking for a Bloody Mary and discovered the “Caesar.” How has this not made its way south?
4 riesling choices, probably in the order I’d seek for them
Megalomaniac - Best for the $, if you can still find it, try LCBO
Sue-Ann Staff - Made the Megalomaniac and he’s is pretty great too
Henry of Pelham - Especially if you can get library releases
Malavoire
I’d stay far far away from Royal DeMaria, one of the worst tastings I’ve ever gone to(and paid for), in any country and rather over priced too.
Royal de Maria is grossly overpriced - IMO their label counts more than quality. Inniskillin often offers back vintages (to 1985, if memory serves), and has great customer service. If you strike up a good rapport with the server, you can easily taste up to 8 different styles/cépages/vintages in a sitting (and if you end up buying a bottle, they will waive the $35+ tasting fee). By the way, Inniskillin took gold in the just-announced (today) 2013 National Wine Awards for their 2011 sparkling Vidal icewine. Surprisingly (for me) Eastdell also took gold for their 2011 Cab Sauv icewine. Do taste the red icewines at any of the places you visit - there is lots of vintage variation (more rhubarb in cooler vintages, more strawberry in warmer vintages). Have fun!
By the way, to echo Darryl’s comments, Malivoire does also offer good icewines - I had a very nice Gewürztraminer icewine from them a few years back.
Last kick at the can (not an icewine post): do drop in to Tawse (probably Niagara’s consistently best winery). They make good to excellent Cab Franc and generally great Chardonnays and Rieslings. The 2010 Laundry Vineyard CF and 2010 Echos Riesling took just platinum at the National Wine Awards. I visit them for their Chards.
Thanks for these helpful suggestions. I’ll take all the tips I can get. Given my schedule, I’m limited to stores and restaurants around Old Quebec and stores I can pass through on the drive home. I don’t think I’ll be able to visit any wineries on this trip.
I plan to go to the SAQ Signature in Sainte-Foy tomorrow, but I don’t know French, so I’m expecting awkwardness at best and a disaster at worst. 
BTW, you shouldn’t have a problem finding an SAQ Signatures consultant who speaks English in Ste-Foy. Just remember that Québec law dictates that they must initially greet you in French, but if you persevere after the greeting, staff who can speak English will switch over.
Well, that eases my mind, thank you. There goes my vacation spending money!
Kevin,
One last thought. If you should find the icewine selection poor at the Ste-Foy SAQ - and assuming that you’re passing through Ontario via Hwy 401 - consider dropping in to the main LCBO store in Cornwall, Ontario (11-960 Brookdale Ave. - in the Brookdale Mall). As an Ontario store, they might have a better icewine selection than the Québec stores - check their “Vintages” section.
I didn’t mention this because when we were there in June they’d long sold out of the last vintage of Gewurztraminer ice wine they had made, which was spectacularly good. We asked around for other places that made Gewurztraminer ice wine, but had very little luck. IIRC Gewurztrminer ice wine is more difficult than some other grapes due to the thinness of the skins and maybe just less of it around in Ontario.
Rare stuff. Kacaba made a very good batch (2002? 3?) once and hasn’t made it since. Makes me wonder whether Gewurz icewine (1) isn’t cost-effective, (2) isn’t popular - Malivoire was discounting their remainders quite a bit in 2011, or (3) whether a local grower is selling small batches of the grapes to differing producers when harvests are good/feasible. I’ll ask at both places when I’m next in Niagara.
From memory in June, Malavoire was harvesting their own Gewurztraminer. I think from chatting to several winemakers last trip the your #1 and #2 are both reasons not to bother.
Surprisingly Jackson-Triggs makes one that is pretty decent, or at least the 2007 was.
The key to icewines for me is acidity. Without it, they tend to be syrupy and cloying. Best bets for me are those made with Riesling. Henry of Pelham, Cave Spring, Chateau des Charmes, and Vineland make excellent versions, but there are probably a lot of other good ones out there. Age-worthy too. Vidal-based icewines are less consistent, many can be unbalanced. I’ve liked ones by Lakeview and Magnotta. I would proceed with caution when it comes to red or sparkling icewines, haven’t had many good experiences there.
For something under the radar, I would try an icewine from Quebec. Most of these are made in the Eastern Townships, though the best icewine I’ve had in the past couple of years was from Vignoble La Romance du Vin west of Montreal near the Ontario border. They make remarkable blends from varying proportions of Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Geisenheim. Very sweet, but with lovely balancing acidity that really fans out on the finish. If you can’t visit the winery though, the wines are hard to find - generally only available at the Marché des Saveurs in Montreal, a specialty store that sells artisanal Quebec foods and wines.
The SAQ Signature store in Sainte-Foy has some Quebec icewines, notably the Vignoble du Marathonien Vidal 2008. I haven’t had a chance to taste it, but it gets very high scores on Cellar Tracker. The Signature stores in Montreal and Quebec are flagships for the SAQ, and heavily touristed. The staff tend to be very knowledgeable and are happy to speak English.
Kevin, if you politely identify yourself as an American visitor, you should have no problem dealing with an SAQ rep who is bilingual.
Before we even talk about icewine, for the love of Dionysus, pick up some ice cider while at the SAQ. I recommend Domaine Pinnacle, Neige, Cryomalus and Domaine Lafrance in particular.
Now in regards to icewine, we have to limit our choices to only what you can get at the SAQ and LCBO as you won’t be able to stop by any wineries. Here goes:
SAQ
- 20 Bees Vidal icewine – Tends to lean on the sweet apricot flavor side but a very good deal at slightly less than $30 CDN
*Tawse Cab Franc and Riesling icewines – Superb organic icewines but a bit pricey at $35-36 CDN for a 200 ml bottle
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Henry of Pelham Riesling icewine
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Cave Spring Riesling icewine
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Konzelmann Riesling icewine
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Mission Hill Riesling Icewine
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Inniskillin Riesling icewine
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Inniskillin Sparkling Vidal
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Whistler Pinot Noir icewine – A rare Pinot Noir based icewine. Very smoky.
Now if you make it to an LCBO, you will also find most of the icewines I listed above available (though not all) so I will focus on the ones you will only find at the LCBO and not the SAQ
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Sue-Ann-Staff Cab Franc icewine
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Jackson-Triggs Gewurztraminer icewine
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Stoney Ridge Vidal icewine
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Stratus icewine – very fine but price at $40.00 a 200 ml bottle
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Vineland Riesling icewine
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Strewn Cab Franc icewine
Good luck on the hunt!
BTW, Jackson-Triggs had their 12 Gewurztraminer icewine vintage available at the winery when I visited last month. The only reason I didn’t buy any then was I still have 4 bottles of their 07 to go through.
Thanks for all this info. I picked up a local ice cider today at a corner store. SAQ has been bumped to tomorrow. I’ll take these lists with me!