Vidal Icewine

Aged cheddar cheese, Angel Food cake, Fresh Ontario peaches (about ¼ cup of peaches, with icewine on the side), Baked cheese cake

After a warm and dry fall the weather turned cold in November, bringing the first hard frost. Harvesting in mid December when temperatures were perfect falling between -9°C to -11°C. Thanks to an earlier than usual harvest, the juice was of the highest quality, making for excellently concentrated Icewine.

This unique Canadian product was harvested at the height of Canada’s crisp winter. Naturally frozen on the vine and then picked when the temperature drops to a frigid -10°C. Only a few drops of concentrated nectar can be squeezed from each bunch. The juice is then slowly fermented to achieve a rich, specialty wine know as Icewine.

Sawmill Creek Vineyard is a quintessential, Finger Lakes icon. Less than one half mile from Red Newt Cellars on Seneca Lake’s southeast side, it’s steep slopes, shale soils, and exposition towards the long afternoon and evening sun have made it a prime grape growing location for decades. Located to the immediate north of the Tango Oaks Vineyard, grapes have been farmed on Sawmill Creek by the Hazlitt family since 1862. Today, Eric Hazlitt, has become the fourth generation of the family to grow, own, and manage these amazing vinifera vineyards, keeping the tradition and site very much alive. Known for Riesling fruit that is particularly green apple and mineral driven, Sawmill Creek has also been a spectacular source of Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and more over the years at Red Newt.