While much of the wine world is focused on the upcoming Valentines Day the Olympics are also set to start over the weekend. With the eye of the world on Vancouver for the next week many will enjoy not only the games but the sites and experiences of the region as well.
For wine lovers in Canada nothing will pare better with the Olympic Games than the ice wine which is very popular in the country while more obscure elsewhere. While Canadians and Germans are more likely to place these unique dessert wines in their wine totes while shopping for the wine cellar since these countries produce the most. But with the national spotlight on the games many more will hopefully discover this wine which features grapes that have frozen while on the vine.
The frozen grapes are processed much the same way as regular wine grapes. While the water within the grape is frozen the sugars and other solids are not. This makes a very sweet wine after being crushed and fermented that pares well with many desserts. Of course ice wine is labor intensive and hard to manage making it a more expensive wine that many use only for special occasions.