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Muscat Icewine

Muscat Icewine Wine Details
Price: $29.98 per bottle

Description: Bronze Medal Winner 2004 Tasters Guild International Jost Vineyard’s Gold Medal Award Winning 2003 Muscat IceWine was made from Nova Scotia Grown New York Muscat grapes that had frozen on the vine. Harvested and pressed in December 2003 while temperatures hovered between -80C to -140C, only a few sweet drops of juice from each berry (high in sugar, flavour and balance giving acidity) were extracted and then carefully vinted under cool conditions. The unique dessert wine that emerged has complex flavours and fragrances full of apricot and citrus just waiting to be enjoyed.

Varietal Definition
Muscat:
Muscat, thought to be one of the oldest grape varieties, is grown worldwide. It is vinified in a multitude of styles, from still to sparkling, and dry to sweet to fortified. Also called Moscato, Moscatel and Muskateller, it is a sweetly aromatic, fruity grape that has many genetic variations and colors. It probably originated in Greece but maybe the independent sultanate of Muscat in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula had something to do with it. Over 200 different varieties and derivatives to the Muscat family exist today. Muscat Canelli, Orange Muscat and Black Muscat are varieties most planted in California, which makes primarily still wine. More unusual is Muscat fermented to total dryness, which leaves greater alcohol levels and no residual sugar. Some Muscats are aged in oak to provide additional complexity.Today’s recommended Muscats represent many of these styles, so use the tasting notes and percent of residual sugar - listed if provided by the winery - to find a wine you’ll enjoy. The more sugar and the lower the alcohol, the sweeter the wine, though wines above 10 percent alcohol can also be somewhat sweet.
New York Muscat:
Moderately winter hardy, this quality white wine grape, developed at Geneva, New York, has found a comfortable home in Eastern Canada’s cold-climate vineyards of Nova Scotia. In this province the cultivar has demonstrated its ability to produce excellent wines in the aromatic style reminiscent of the world’s best Muscat wines. The most obvious use for such an intense and sweetly-perfumed variety is in the making of sweet and dessert wines -- and ice wines made from New York Muscat rank among the very best sweet wines of the world. However, dry versions with excellent acidity are equally remarkable. Such wines are similar to Alsatian Muscat, at least those made from the superior Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains, rather than the less noble, but more popular Muscat Ottonel.


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