Tasting/review: The Equisite Collection Vidal Icewine (Niagara on the lake, 2020)
Tasting/review: The Equisite Collection Vidal Icewine (Niagara on the lake, 2020)
by a_j_cruzer
2 Comments
a_j_cruzer
Hi r/wine! Thought I would share my thoughts with you on this Icewine. A month ago I saw that Aldi had started carrying this for the holidays, so I picked a bottle up as it was only $15 and I had never had icewine, or dessert wines of any kind besides cheap Moscato. (DISCLAIMER: please forgive me, I’m not completely new to wine but I’m still not completely familiar with all the terminology.)
I saw that under the foil, the cork was hand-pressed into the bottle. I never expected that from a sub $20 wine, let alone something sold at Aldi. On the advice of Bruce from [Bar Talk & Cocktails,](https://youtu.be/0m0pcvAUWys) I served this chilled. The viscosity was similar to vodka I’d chilled in the freezer. On the nose I got something that reminded me of my grandma’s homemade canned fruits, as well as some apricots and maybe some floral notes.
The taste was mostly tart pears, peaches, honey, apricots, and some subtle persimmon notes (but none of the tannins of course). It reminded me a little bit of Moscato with how heavily the pear shined through, but the syrupy texture was very nice. I was surprised how much acidity was present considering this has 198 grams per liter of sugar according to the label.
Overall I would not seek this out again, but it was fun to try. This might be fantastic in a cocktail, as it reminded me a bit of a pear liqueur. I wasn’t expecting it to be so complex, even if not all the flavors were things I liked. It wasn’t cloyingly sweet, but if you don’t like sweet desserts I’d stay away. If I had to give this a score out of 100, I’d give this a 70.
liquid_massage
As a resident of Niagara I have never seen this label in my life and have never seen ice wine at this price point. Can you show us the back?
2 Comments
Hi r/wine! Thought I would share my thoughts with you on this Icewine. A month ago I saw that Aldi had started carrying this for the holidays, so I picked a bottle up as it was only $15 and I had never had icewine, or dessert wines of any kind besides cheap Moscato. (DISCLAIMER: please forgive me, I’m not completely new to wine but I’m still not completely familiar with all the terminology.)
I saw that under the foil, the cork was hand-pressed into the bottle. I never expected that from a sub $20 wine, let alone something sold at Aldi. On the advice of Bruce from [Bar Talk & Cocktails,](https://youtu.be/0m0pcvAUWys) I served this chilled. The viscosity was similar to vodka I’d chilled in the freezer. On the nose I got something that reminded me of my grandma’s homemade canned fruits, as well as some apricots and maybe some floral notes.
The taste was mostly tart pears, peaches, honey, apricots, and some subtle persimmon notes (but none of the tannins of course). It reminded me a little bit of Moscato with how heavily the pear shined through, but the syrupy texture was very nice. I was surprised how much acidity was present considering this has 198 grams per liter of sugar according to the label.
Overall I would not seek this out again, but it was fun to try. This might be fantastic in a cocktail, as it reminded me a bit of a pear liqueur. I wasn’t expecting it to be so complex, even if not all the flavors were things I liked. It wasn’t cloyingly sweet, but if you don’t like sweet desserts I’d stay away. If I had to give this a score out of 100, I’d give this a 70.
As a resident of Niagara I have never seen this label in my life and have never seen ice wine at this price point. Can you show us the back?