We made this wine from the American hybrid Vignoles.  We love the versatility of this grape.  In the vineyard it has the ability to grow in lower, colder areas and still produce top quality fruit.  In the winery, it’s ideal for blending or making sweeter dessert style wines.  Viscous and smooth, with excellent acidity to balance the sweetness, Tundra demonstrates this versatility.

Vinification

We took a different route to make this ice wine.  Our approach ensured that we picked our fruit at the perfect time and allowed us to produce the best possible wine.  It started early on October 10th when we hand harvested nearly 4 tons of Vignoles.  The fruit was golden in color, uniform clusters with very large berries.  The fruit was de-stemmed, crushed and gently pressed.  We then put the juice in a large tank and froze it for a few months.  During the thawing process, we extracted the beautiful sweet nectar that was almost 45 brix!  Compare that to a normal wine that has somewhere between 22-26 brix when it starts fermentation.  The ice wine went through a long, slow ferementation that was then halted, leaving behind a wonderful, sweet treat.  The wine was settled, racked a few times followed by cold stabilization prior to being bottled in early May. 

Aroma

Tropical fruit explosion

Flavor

Very sweet with a bracing acidity that gets you in the back of the tongue.  This wine will linger on your pallet for several minutes

Visual

Brilliant, golden color

Food Pairings

The perfect after dinner drink to pair with a salty cheese, or better yet chocolates made by Chocolate Exotica of Traverse City infused with the ice wine. 

Winemaker

Shawn Walters

Release Date

May 2012

Cases Produced

80

Price

Retail $45 per half bottle

Discounted case price $40.50 per bottle