Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine 375ml

CANADA : ONTARIO : NIAGARA PENINSULA

Cabernet Franc

FULL-BODIED, STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB, RASPBERRY, RED CHERRY, NO OAK

Icewine demands patience and temperature. The grapes stay on the vine past the normal harvest window — sometimes into January — until sustained cold below -10°C freezes them solid. The frozen clusters are pressed immediately; the water stays behind as ice and only the intensely concentrated juice runs free. Fermentation is long, cold, and difficult: the yeast struggles against the extreme sugar load, stopping naturally well before all the sugar converts. The result is a wine that is simultaneously viscous and sweet and cut through with bright acidity — the acid is what makes it work.

Inniskillin founded commercial Icewine production in Canada in 1984 and put it on the global map with a Grand Prix d'Honneur at Vinexpo 1991. Their Cabernet Franc Icewine translates the variety's red-fruit character — strawberry jam, fresh raspberry, rhubarb — into dessert-wine territory, with enough Cab Franc structure to keep the sweetness from turning cloying. Wine Enthusiast awarded the 2022 vintage 95 points.

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