A unique dessert wine that displays lively characteristics of orange zest, candied mango, and floral tones. With a rich palate of apple, ginger, and cider.
Winemaking
The frozen Gewurztraminer grapes were harvested in late December when temperatures fell between -10ºC and -13ºC. After setting the juice in stainless steel tanks, cool fermentation was completed. The wine was then placed outside to complete a natural cold stabilization.
Pair this with a lychee sorbet or with vanilla ice cream topped with fresh mango.
Bright red in color with aromas of ripe raspberries, red cherries, and strawberries. The palate is complex with sweet cherry flavors followed by jammy characters leading to a finish full of raspberry and strawberry notes. The touch of sweetness is nicely balanced by lively acidity. This wine provides a great harmony between sweetness and spice. Serve chilled to approximately 12°C.
Winemaking
The frozen Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were harvested in late December 2017 when temperatures fell between -10ºC and -13ºC. After settling the juice in stainless steel tanks, cool fermentation was completed in late February when the wine was placed outdoors to stop fermentation and complete natural cold stabilization. The wine was stored in solely stainless steel for a period of 8 months before being filtered and then bottled.
Enjoy with a fresh strawberry tart topped with whipped cream or a slice of cherry cheesecake!
Specs
Vintage: 2017
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Niagra Peninsula, Canada
Alcohol: 11%
Bottle Size: 187ml
• Handpicked Frozen Grapes Capture Concentrated Sweetness
• Extremely Limited Production, Not Produced Every Year
The home of Snow Ridge wines prepared with great passion and dedication.
Imagine a wine so rare and luxurious, that it’s like nature bottled winter itself. The frozen grapes are handpicked at just the right moment, capturing an incredibly concentrated sweetness. This careful process, along with the small amount of wine produced, makes ice wine a true treasure. It’s not just a treat but a premium indulgence, perfect for those who love the finer things in life.
Icewine, or ‘Eiswein,’ traces its origins to the frosty vineyards of Germany and Austria, with Canada now standing as a premier producer. The grapes are left on the vine well into winter, freezing naturally before being swiftly harvested and pressed. The result? A luscious, sweet wine that’s high in sugar and rich in character.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Are these good? Maybe I should use my Meh coupon on these? I really wanted to try these the last time they were sold, but…kinda prohibitively expensive.
My order of Stardust Cellars mead from a few weeks ago got stolen, so now I don’t have anything interesting to try. Someone talk me into/out of it.
@ShotgunX I had seen Canadian Ice Wine on a trip to Vancouver last year. Was super curious, bought a bottle (not this brand), and found it way too syrupy sweet. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another Ice Wine again. The sweetest I prefer are Mosel Rieslings.
@ShotgunX@stevenmontes it’s supposed to be sweet but I also was worried about the too-sweet thing.
Though it wouldn’t be uncommon to take the ice cream pairing literally and use it as a syrup if it’s like what I think it might be. Or also, sipped from tiny glasses, not treated as a normal wine.
So after all the rambling, answer is I don’t know.
@ShotgunX oh yeah about price I know these can be expensive. But just noticed bottles are 187 and not 375ml. So yeah probably basically expensive syrup… but not out of line for a good maple syrup, Eh?
@pmarin@ShotgunX@stevenmontes I bought this last time but haven’t tried them yet.
Icewine should be sweet, with RS in the 20%+ range. But it should be balanced by super high acidity. With the two grapes here you are likely to get that. If something you tried before was made from the Vidal grape then that’s the most likely reason it was syrupy rather than lively and nearly refreshing.
“The sweetest I like is Mosel Riesling” is meaningless. They make icewine in the Mosel and the category of wine called trockenbeerenauslese is just as sweet as icewine.
At $9 per bottle for these splits you can’t find a cheaper intro to icewine.
@klezman@pmarin@ShotgunX@stevenmontes
I have had a number of ice wines from OH and NY. Only a couple from Canada but none of them had super high acidity? Tangy, maybe a little tart at most.
@chipgreen@pmarin@ShotgunX@stevenmontes Yeah, with the amount of sugar in an icewine it’s never going to have the rip roaring (apparent) acidity of a GG Riesling. Good icewine nonetheless has plenty of acidity to balance the sugar so that it’s rather unlike drinking Aunt Jemima and the flavours come alive.
The only Niagara Icewines I’ve had that are routinely lower-than-great acidity are from the Vidal grape.
@ShotgunX my partner loves port and other sweet wines as a aperitif post dinner. We bought a half of this last time and have finished a few bottles of it.
@matthewstep Yeah I love port too, which is why this is so tempting for me. I actually think that I bought every single sweet wine offer Casemates ever had (there weren’t many of them).
I dug up the “TRYCASEMATES” coupon from the recent Meh wine order and placed an order for a case. If I didn’t want to gift a set of these each to my sister and my best buddy over here, I probably wouldn’t have spared the cash just to treat myself.
Hopefully this shit doesn’t get stolen from me too, or you’ll end up reading some vigilante murder story in the news in a week or two.
Too bad RS wasn’t posted. I am curious about what these would taste like and nice that we get a combo of two varietals. And also cute giftable bottles.
A friend’s daughter in 20s is really into cooking and exploring new flavors. She just recently started dabbling in wine and liquor flavors but is not a drinker in general. Yes, over 21.
This might be a nice thing to gift a mix of 2 bottles but yeah price is high but again this stuff tends to be quite expensive. Especially if you understand the harvesting and winemaking technique and the labor-intensive nature for an expected very low yield. So maybe I am talking myself into an order?
@ShotgunX I said nothing of the sort unless you are willfully ignoring context to sling an ad hominem attack.
Icewine is expensive, mostly because the yield is something like 10-20% compared to table wine. The grapes must also be picked in the middle of the night to ensure that the brix remains above 35, otherwise they can’t call it icewine. Fermentation takes around 6-10 months because there’s so much sugar. You can’t use a regular grape press because they will break from the frozen berries. And you only get a drop or two of juice per grape after all that.
The cheapest, syrupy, blah icewine usually runs about $25-30 for a 200 ml bottle, maybe $35 for a 375 ml. The good stuff starts at around $50 or so for a 375 ml bottle. Riesling icewine from a more “commercial” winery like Inniskillin run around $80 for a 375 ml in the US.
So sure, if you insist on comparing icewine to table wine you will find that it’s “expensive” on a per-750 ml basis. But context always matters. Objectively, this is cheap FOR ICEWINE. Subjectively, maybe it’s more than you want to spend, and if so, then fine.
@pmarin what he said
icewine is expensive. I haven’t tried this yet either from last time, but I have paid 50-75$ a bottle for good stuff. Think of it is desert
@klezman If you absolutely require context, people who find things “expensive” generally don’t think of everything in relative terms. If you walk past a dealership with a friend and see BMWs on a buy-one-get-one sale (hypothetically) and start commenting about how much of a great deal that is, and your friend comments “that’s still too expensive…” are you going to start breaking down the value for them? Would you expect them to “get it” and go “ah okay, I better walk in and pick up four, then”?
Likewise, paying the equivalent of ~$36 per standard bottle of wine is expensive in general terms for the majority of the population. The average price of a bottle of wine in the US is around $15. A 150% markup on that is objectively expensive. That doesn’t mean that a particular product isn’t worth the money (e.g. this particular offering might be a fantastic deal, so much so that I might be willing to give up something else in life just to pick it up), and that was never the argument in the first place.
And so, seeing someone not understanding why people might consider something expensive, and then complaining about “ad hominem attacks” when someone points out how that can be perceived as somewhat out-of-touch at a time when rent and food doubled in price over the past half decade while inflation-adjusted wages actually fell, is absolutely wild to me.
@ShotgunX There you go again with the ad hominem, accusing me of not understanding how people think of their own money, how inflation works, and the difference between price and value.
I’ll ignore the remainder of your inapt comparisons and wish you a happy new year.
@klezman Seems like you don’t understand what “ad hominem” means either. None of that was remotely a personal attack. You’re just manufacturing outrage because you can’t deal with someone providing criticism for viewpoints you’re expressing on a public forum (disbelief that someone would find a $36 wine to be “expensive” being a perfect example). If you don’t want that to happen, maybe avoiding forums would be a good idea.
@klezman@ShotgunX
Alright really the biggest mistake you have made here is assuming (as in your example) is you’re walking by a BMW dealership with your “friend” when in reality you’re walking by with the salesman! He does not know or even much care about your budget he is just trying to get you to buy the damn beemer much like many of the dealers on this site no offence intended to any party here!
@klezman has been a part of this community for a very long time and several people here know him very well. Although I’ve yet to meet him in person, I can say he is one of the most reasonable people I’ve communicated with. As he said, he has no skin in the game. He was simply sharing his perspective and perhaps was trying to help you realize the price here is not expensive when compared to other ice wines. You insist on comparing icewine to table wine. It’s apples vs oranges. While I personally agree ice wine is expensive, it’s a delicacy of sorts considering all of the extra effort that goes into it. Klez never made things personal in his posts, but you have (whether it was intentional or not). Lastly, debates such as this are best suited in other threads (such as the CyberPub for example) rather than being a possible distraction from the offer at hand.
@kawichris650 Disagreement on public forums is par for the course, and should be expected. If someone can’t handle criticism of their viewpoints, forums should generally be avoided. And calling someone’s callous take regarding pricing as being out-of-touch in an economy in which a record number of people is struggling to survive is hardly a personal attack; it’s a very rational observation.
This whole exchange, to me, is indicative of the elitist gate-keeping that occurs in hobbies such as this.
I’ve tried the white (Gewurztraminer) one of these from the previous offering. It is sweet (duh), but my wife and I quite liked it (we drank it from tiny port glasses that we got at a local antique store). I didn’t take notes, and I don’t remember much acidity, but it went down super easy. I was disappointed when the bottle was empty!
These are both fantastic. I think I prefer the red just a bit more. Took both of them to a party and they didn’t last long at all. Everyone enjoyed them. At this price this is a deal compared to other ice wines. So glad I bought it the last time and plan to order again.
I bought them last time and I’ve tried a bottle of each so far. They are in fact very sweet, but are served in a tiny glass as a Digestif or Apertif. It’s just some sweetness on your tongue after a meal and has satiated my desire for dessert after a meal. I enjoy them, but they’re really meant to be served to a group at parties or something. If it’s just you and you have a taste at dinner then put the rest in the fridge, it will begin to turn to syrup within days. Personally, I like the flavors and you only need a very small amount of wine to experience them so it’s nice to have some bottles in my cellar, but it’s not something I’m going to reach for often because I’d really prefer having 4-6 people tasting it for it to be worth opening. Depending on where you live, ice wines can be hard to find and prohibitively expensive, so I took it as a nice opportunity to try something new without breaking the bank and I’m glad I did. I’m considering ordering more because of the price.
A friend of my son is getting interested in wine. A few of these will be a great gift for him. My son is still more into beer, but with a 3 and 6 year old, time for quiet contemplation in his house is very rare.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Snow Ridge Cold Climate Icewine -$30 = 21.42%
I had the white from the previous offering over the holidays before the cakes & cookies. People liked it. A small amount goes a long way as it’s very sweet, as intended. In a few words it tasted like a very good honey with a kick.
Hey sorry I missed the order window let’s just say an old friend was visiting and there was some Bacchanalia involved. Any chance to put in an order still?
2019 Snow Ridge Gewurztraminer Niagara Falls Canada Icewine 187ML
Tasting Notes
Winemaking
Specs
2017 Snow Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Niagara Falls Canada Icewine 187ML
Tasting Notes
Winemaking
Specs
• Handpicked Frozen Grapes Capture Concentrated Sweetness
• Extremely Limited Production, Not Produced Every Year
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale on winery website, $360/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Tuesday, Jan 21
Snow Ridge Cold Climate Icewine
6 bottles for $69.99 $11.67/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2019 Snow Ridge Gewurztraminer Icewine
2017 Snow Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine
Previous offer:
10/11/24
I haven’t tried these from the previous offer yet!
@klezman time to do the faux Rat thing then
Are these good? Maybe I should use my Meh coupon on these? I really wanted to try these the last time they were sold, but…kinda prohibitively expensive.
My order of Stardust Cellars mead from a few weeks ago got stolen, so now I don’t have anything interesting to try. Someone talk me into/out of it.
@ShotgunX I had seen Canadian Ice Wine on a trip to Vancouver last year. Was super curious, bought a bottle (not this brand), and found it way too syrupy sweet. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another Ice Wine again. The sweetest I prefer are Mosel Rieslings.
@ShotgunX @stevenmontes it’s supposed to be sweet but I also was worried about the too-sweet thing.
Though it wouldn’t be uncommon to take the ice cream pairing literally and use it as a syrup if it’s like what I think it might be. Or also, sipped from tiny glasses, not treated as a normal wine.
So after all the rambling, answer is I don’t know.
@ShotgunX oh yeah about price I know these can be expensive. But just noticed bottles are 187 and not 375ml. So yeah probably basically expensive syrup… but not out of line for a good maple syrup, Eh?
@pmarin @ShotgunX @stevenmontes I bought this last time but haven’t tried them yet.
Icewine should be sweet, with RS in the 20%+ range. But it should be balanced by super high acidity. With the two grapes here you are likely to get that. If something you tried before was made from the Vidal grape then that’s the most likely reason it was syrupy rather than lively and nearly refreshing.
“The sweetest I like is Mosel Riesling” is meaningless. They make icewine in the Mosel and the category of wine called trockenbeerenauslese is just as sweet as icewine.
At $9 per bottle for these splits you can’t find a cheaper intro to icewine.
@klezman @pmarin @ShotgunX @stevenmontes
I have had a number of ice wines from OH and NY. Only a couple from Canada but none of them had super high acidity? Tangy, maybe a little tart at most.
@chipgreen @pmarin @ShotgunX @stevenmontes Yeah, with the amount of sugar in an icewine it’s never going to have the rip roaring (apparent) acidity of a GG Riesling. Good icewine nonetheless has plenty of acidity to balance the sugar so that it’s rather unlike drinking Aunt Jemima and the flavours come alive.
The only Niagara Icewines I’ve had that are routinely lower-than-great acidity are from the Vidal grape.
@ShotgunX my partner loves port and other sweet wines as a aperitif post dinner. We bought a half of this last time and have finished a few bottles of it.
In for a full case.
@matthewstep Yeah I love port too, which is why this is so tempting for me. I actually think that I bought every single sweet wine offer Casemates ever had (there weren’t many of them).
I dug up the “TRYCASEMATES” coupon from the recent Meh wine order and placed an order for a case. If I didn’t want to gift a set of these each to my sister and my best buddy over here, I probably wouldn’t have spared the cash just to treat myself.
Hopefully this shit doesn’t get stolen from me too, or you’ll end up reading some vigilante murder story in the news in a week or two.
Too bad RS wasn’t posted. I am curious about what these would taste like and nice that we get a combo of two varietals. And also cute giftable bottles.
A friend’s daughter in 20s is really into cooking and exploring new flavors. She just recently started dabbling in wine and liquor flavors but is not a drinker in general. Yes, over 21.
This might be a nice thing to gift a mix of 2 bottles but yeah price is high but again this stuff tends to be quite expensive. Especially if you understand the harvesting and winemaking technique and the labor-intensive nature for an expected very low yield. So maybe I am talking myself into an order?
Oh yeah what was that coupon code?
@pmarin honestly, even at $12 per bottle you won’t be sad to try two and give away 4. I don’t understand the comments that this is expensive.
@klezman @pmarin Probably cause the bottles are teeny tiny!
@klezman $12 for 187ml or $48 per 750ml
@klezman
You don’t understand why someone would think that something is expensive? Seems like a somewhat out-of-touch take in 2024, but alright.
@ShotgunX I said nothing of the sort unless you are willfully ignoring context to sling an ad hominem attack.
Icewine is expensive, mostly because the yield is something like 10-20% compared to table wine. The grapes must also be picked in the middle of the night to ensure that the brix remains above 35, otherwise they can’t call it icewine. Fermentation takes around 6-10 months because there’s so much sugar. You can’t use a regular grape press because they will break from the frozen berries. And you only get a drop or two of juice per grape after all that.
The cheapest, syrupy, blah icewine usually runs about $25-30 for a 200 ml bottle, maybe $35 for a 375 ml. The good stuff starts at around $50 or so for a 375 ml bottle. Riesling icewine from a more “commercial” winery like Inniskillin run around $80 for a 375 ml in the US.
So sure, if you insist on comparing icewine to table wine you will find that it’s “expensive” on a per-750 ml basis. But context always matters. Objectively, this is cheap FOR ICEWINE. Subjectively, maybe it’s more than you want to spend, and if so, then fine.
@pmarin what he said
icewine is expensive. I haven’t tried this yet either from last time, but I have paid 50-75$ a bottle for good stuff. Think of it is desert
@klezman @pmarin I can’t understand that either to be honest. I think it’s a great deal. Ice wine bottles are always small.
@klezman If you absolutely require context, people who find things “expensive” generally don’t think of everything in relative terms. If you walk past a dealership with a friend and see BMWs on a buy-one-get-one sale (hypothetically) and start commenting about how much of a great deal that is, and your friend comments “that’s still too expensive…” are you going to start breaking down the value for them? Would you expect them to “get it” and go “ah okay, I better walk in and pick up four, then”?
Likewise, paying the equivalent of ~$36 per standard bottle of wine is expensive in general terms for the majority of the population. The average price of a bottle of wine in the US is around $15. A 150% markup on that is objectively expensive. That doesn’t mean that a particular product isn’t worth the money (e.g. this particular offering might be a fantastic deal, so much so that I might be willing to give up something else in life just to pick it up), and that was never the argument in the first place.
And so, seeing someone not understanding why people might consider something expensive, and then complaining about “ad hominem attacks” when someone points out how that can be perceived as somewhat out-of-touch at a time when rent and food doubled in price over the past half decade while inflation-adjusted wages actually fell, is absolutely wild to me.
@ShotgunX There you go again with the ad hominem, accusing me of not understanding how people think of their own money, how inflation works, and the difference between price and value.
I’ll ignore the remainder of your inapt comparisons and wish you a happy new year.
@klezman Seems like you don’t understand what “ad hominem” means either. None of that was remotely a personal attack. You’re just manufacturing outrage because you can’t deal with someone providing criticism for viewpoints you’re expressing on a public forum (disbelief that someone would find a $36 wine to be “expensive” being a perfect example). If you don’t want that to happen, maybe avoiding forums would be a good idea.
@klezman @ShotgunX
no offence intended to any party here!
Alright really the biggest mistake you have made here is assuming (as in your example) is you’re walking by a BMW dealership with your “friend” when in reality you’re walking by with the salesman! He does not know or even much care about your budget he is just trying to get you to buy the damn beemer much like many of the dealers on this site
@ScottW58 I couldn’t care less if he buys it. No stake in it for me!
@ShotgunX
@klezman has been a part of this community for a very long time and several people here know him very well. Although I’ve yet to meet him in person, I can say he is one of the most reasonable people I’ve communicated with. As he said, he has no skin in the game. He was simply sharing his perspective and perhaps was trying to help you realize the price here is not expensive when compared to other ice wines. You insist on comparing icewine to table wine. It’s apples vs oranges. While I personally agree ice wine is expensive, it’s a delicacy of sorts considering all of the extra effort that goes into it. Klez never made things personal in his posts, but you have (whether it was intentional or not). Lastly, debates such as this are best suited in other threads (such as the CyberPub for example) rather than being a possible distraction from the offer at hand.
@kawichris650 Disagreement on public forums is par for the course, and should be expected. If someone can’t handle criticism of their viewpoints, forums should generally be avoided. And calling someone’s callous take regarding pricing as being out-of-touch in an economy in which a record number of people is struggling to survive is hardly a personal attack; it’s a very rational observation.
This whole exchange, to me, is indicative of the elitist gate-keeping that occurs in hobbies such as this.
@kawichris650 @ShotgunX Can one truly be elitist pertaining to $9 bottles of wine?
I’ll be checking the forums for the $40 a bottle offers!
I’ve tried the white (Gewurztraminer) one of these from the previous offering. It is sweet (duh), but my wife and I quite liked it (we drank it from tiny port glasses that we got at a local antique store). I didn’t take notes, and I don’t remember much acidity, but it went down super easy. I was disappointed when the bottle was empty!
These are both fantastic. I think I prefer the red just a bit more. Took both of them to a party and they didn’t last long at all. Everyone enjoyed them. At this price this is a deal compared to other ice wines. So glad I bought it the last time and plan to order again.
I bought them last time and I’ve tried a bottle of each so far. They are in fact very sweet, but are served in a tiny glass as a Digestif or Apertif. It’s just some sweetness on your tongue after a meal and has satiated my desire for dessert after a meal. I enjoy them, but they’re really meant to be served to a group at parties or something. If it’s just you and you have a taste at dinner then put the rest in the fridge, it will begin to turn to syrup within days. Personally, I like the flavors and you only need a very small amount of wine to experience them so it’s nice to have some bottles in my cellar, but it’s not something I’m going to reach for often because I’d really prefer having 4-6 people tasting it for it to be worth opening. Depending on where you live, ice wines can be hard to find and prohibitively expensive, so I took it as a nice opportunity to try something new without breaking the bank and I’m glad I did. I’m considering ordering more because of the price.
@user33071884 They’d make interesting gifts.
A friend of my son is getting interested in wine. A few of these will be a great gift for him. My son is still more into beer, but with a 3 and 6 year old, time for quiet contemplation in his house is very rare.
/giphy kind-merry-sniffle
@Springbank Personally, I wouldn’t give these to anyone less thank say, 11. 3 and 6 seems to be rather too young.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Snow Ridge Cold Climate Icewine -$30 = 21.42%
I had the white from the previous offering over the holidays before the cakes & cookies. People liked it. A small amount goes a long way as it’s very sweet, as intended. In a few words it tasted like a very good honey with a kick.
Hey sorry I missed the order window let’s just say an old friend was visiting and there was some Bacchanalia involved. Any chance to put in an order still?