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Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives

So here is my wine review for the week of October 24th, 2005...

INNISKILLIN 2003 ICE WINE

Description: I haven't reviewed any dessert wines yet, as they are not easily available to many people (you usually have to get them through the winery or wine specialty stores). I found this bottle at Costco and thought it a good opportunity to expose a few people to the world of dessert wines. These wines are usually white in base and very sweet. They are simply made with late harvest grapes which are full of sugar. Dessert wines should be served extremely cold (colder than a white) and a little bit usually goes a long way (this wine came in a 375 ML bottle which was more than enough for four of us).

How to Get it: This particular wine is made by a Canadian company and is available in many Costco stores right now. Inniskillin is a fairly common ice wine in the dessert world and can also be found via their website or at some wine specialty stores and on-line shops.


How Much: It's about $40 at Costco (most dessert wines are fairly pricey, so they usually only get rolled out for special get-togethers).

My Thoughts: The first thing you notice about this wine is the aroma, because it is unavoidable. There is an overpowering musty smell, like a cold damp basement, similar to many winery rooms I've been in through the years. Once you cut through that smell, a ton of pear and apple smells come through. On the tongue, the wine is super sweet, almost too sweet. Obviously dessert wines are designed to be sweet, but shouldn't taste like pure sugar and this one comes close. We drank it while eating very sweet chocolate cake, and in that setting the wine was a great compliment.


Overall Score: This is a fair dessert wine and way over-priced. Drank by itself, it would be nauseating. It does serve as a nice compliment to a super sweet dessert, but that means a lot of sugar. Because of the price, I can only award this wine a score of 1 vine.

Inniskillin Ice Wine =