More Wineing

I love ice wine.  One of our local vineyards does a lovely one that is even affordable if you buy it at the vineyard.  I got a number of wine infused teas from SBS Tea and today I am having Ice Wine sachets.  This is a black tea blended with some white with added Ontario (Canada) Ice Wine, and freeze dried grapes.  The dry scent is faint.  The leaves are large and I can discern some grapes in the mix.  The sachet is one of those big pyramid ones and it fills right up as the tea brews for 3 minutes with water just off the boil.

The liquor is a very dark brown with a warm sweet aroma that reminds me of good grape candy.  The taste seems to be more grapey than winey and comes with a bit of an earth tone at the end.  I liked it, but it would not be a favorite.  I like more wine and less grape. 

Ice wine is very sweet and generally expensive, as it not only requires extra work, but is a real gamble.  You have to leave the grapes on the vine until they begin to wither, which pushes up the sugar content and then they have to freeze on the vine.  Iffy, at best and not something that occurs every year.  All farming, whether it is wine or tea, is a huge gamble and subject to Mother Nature.

The goldfinches are beginning to turn yellow again,  which makes for a cheerful sight.  They also sing very sweetly.  I think I heard a meadowlark yesterday, so the birds are thinking it is Spring.  I hope we don't get one of those really awful March blizzards.

A closeup of the tower in yesterday's blog.