Henry of Pelham Winery
Icewine, or Eiswein, originated in Franconia, Germany in 1794. Grapes were left on the vines until the first deep frost, and the freeze/thaw cycles that occurred concentrated both the sugars and flavors of the grapes. The process was refined, and now icewines are highly prized drinks that are created in Germany, Austria, and Canada. The Niagara region of Ontario, Canada is currently the most widely respected producer of ice wines.
I love visiting this area. The terrain around St Catharines is covered with grapevines and orchards. Driving through these quiet areas provide backroads which are deliciously curvy, through all sorts of vineyards and orchards. This is the landscape which surrounds Henry of Pelham. When I visited in 2000 with Niagara wine-writing friend Rowan, I went right for the late harvest Vidal and ice wine.
First, the woman poured the 1997 Special Select Late Harvest Vidal. It was very full, with tropical kinds of flavors - melon being predominant. Great as an after dinner treat! I enjoyed this one slowly, and then was ready for the second. This was the 1997 Riesling Ice Wine. What a treat! This award winner was full, sweet, with grapefruit and lemon flavors to it; it had a long, delicious aftertaste. I savored this, reading through the Shakespeare in the Vineyard (what a combo!) poster on the wall.
At this point, Rowan came down, bringing along with him the owner, Paul Speck. We talked for a while about the various wines and, as it was getting late, decided to just finish up here instead of sprinting like madmen for another winery. We tried a few of the reds, including a Baco Noir which was very dark, rich, and tasty. It creates the infamous "purple mouth" with its flavors of tobacco and coffee.
Even though we were on a motorcycle, I grabbed a bottle of the ice wine and one of the baco noir, and tucked them into a pannier. They were that good.
When you visit this region, it's not just the wineries that are a treat. When we finished visiting here, we rode along the whole edge of Niagara, going past the (now closed) estates of Konzelmann and Reif Estate, as well as a ton of other wineries. Their vines and orchards were all along this area. We also saw many huge mansions and gorgeous scenery out over the river. Finally we got to the floral clock, the huge power stations, and then the bridges and the falls themselves.
We opened our visors and rode slowly past the gorgeous waterfalls in the sunset light, with the crashing of water and spray filling us. We went all the way down to the end of the falls area, then turned around and rode back across the other way. We then crossed to the US side at the Whirlpool bridge and headed into New York. We merely had to declare our two bottles of wine, and they waved us through. Another day and we were home, where the bottles from Henry of Pelham were tucked lovingly into our cellar, for future enjoyment.
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All content on the WineIntro website is personally written by author and wine enthusiast Lisa Shea. WineIntro explores the delicious variety and beautiful history which makes up our world of wine! Lisa loves supporting local wineries and encouraging people to drink whatever they like. We all have different taste buds, and that makes our world wonderful. Always drink responsibly.