The Peller family have been making wine in Niagara for three generations. At 43º latitude, the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, home to Peller Family Estates, is within the same latitudinal range as Southern France, Rioja in Spain, Chianti Classico in Italy and Oregon in the USA. The Niagara Peninsula is the only place in the world where every single year the summers are so warm red wine grapes can be ripened, but the winters are cold enough to make Icewine (but never so cold that the vines do not survive).
Grapes for Peller’s Icewines are always picked at temperatures of at least -10ºC, with the grapes frozen on the vine and hand-picked in the middle of the cold Canadian night. Once picked, the grapes are pressed immediately while still frozen. Authentic Icewine is very different from other dessert wines; prior to being picked in late December, the grapes freeze and then thaw 8 to 10 times. Each time they freeze, new and more complex flavours are released into the juice from the grape. The signature of great Icewine is the balancing tension between sweetness and acidity. These sublime wines are guaranteed to make an indelible impression on you – once tasted, never forgotten!
