Late-harvest Merlot
Nov 8, 2008 Yumtastic
Lately I’ve come to be quite the fan of late-harvest wines.
You might be familiar with icewine — grapes are left on the vine deep into December and January, actually freezing on the vines, which concentrates the sugar and juice inside a ball of ice water that makes up the reat of the inside the grape, making for a much sweeter wine. Given how many grapes you end up losing trying to make icewone, however, it ends up being much more expensive — anywhere from $30-75 USD and up for a 375ml bottle.
Icewine is great, and well worth the money if you can afford it. However, another variety of wines, called late harvest, is made similarly, but the grapes aren’t allowed to freeze solid — they’re harvested in late November and early December. It tastes nearly the same, and on account of not losing as many grapes due to freezing, it’s cheaper, in the $16-20 USD range.
Most of the late-harvest wines I’ve had lately are vidal wines from the Niagara region of Canada. I recently tried a late-harvest merlot from Hernder Estate Wines in St Catharines, Ontario that as reeeeally good. I haven’t been able to find anyone else in New York and southern Ontario that makes it.
Anyone else know where I might find it, and/or does it sell in other stores?
Alternate question for the day: have you ever tried icewine or late-harvest wine?
