QUOTE(omelette @ Jun 24 2009, 10:42 AM)
Interesting.
Is icewine the same as a Sauternes?
Like sparkling wine and a champagne.
No.
Icewine is made by allowing the grapes to freeze on the vines during winter, and then picking them (usually at night) and crushing them while in frozen state, so that the "juice" is in its most concentrated form and have a very high sugar content. You can have icewines made from several types of grapes. Icewine typically has a higher sugar content than Sauternes.
From wikipedia:
QUOTE
Ice wine (or icewine, as one word, or in German, Eiswein) is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards. Unlike the grapes from which other dessert wines, such as Sauternes, Tokaji, or Trockenbeerenauslese, are made, ice wine grapes should not be affected by Botrytis cinerea or noble rot, at least not to any great degree. Only healthy grapes keep in good shape until the opportunity arises for an ice wine harvest, which in extreme cases can occur after the New Year, on a northern hemisphere calendar. This gives ice wine its characteristic refreshing sweetness balanced by high acidity. When the grapes are free of Botrytis, they are said to come in "clean".
Due to the labour-intense and risky production process resulting in relatively small amounts of wine, ice wines are generally quite expensive.
Sauternes is made from a variety of grapes that have been affected by the Botrytis fungus (noble rot), which concentrates the flavours. It is also very sweet. In addition, wines made this way can only be called "Sauternes" if it's from the Sauternes region of Bordeaux in France.
From wikipedia:
QUOTE
Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wines. Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence, due to its climate. Even so, production is a hit-or-miss proposition, with widely varying harvests from vintage to vintage. Wines from Sauternes, especially the Premier Cru Supérieur estate Château d'Yquem, can be very expensive, due largely to the very high cost of production. Barsac lies within Sauternes, and is entitled to use either name. Somewhat similar but less expensive and typically less-distinguished wines are produced in the neighboring regions of Monbazillac, Cérons, Loupiac and Cadillac. In the United States, there is a semi-generic label for sweet white dessert wines known as sauterne without the "s" at the end and uncapitalized.[1]
May 14 2009, 05:11 PM
Quote
0.0521sec
0.58
7 queries
GZIP Disabled