| January 16th, 2006 02:28 PM |
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| nankerphelge |
As many are staying at the Times Sq Marriot:
Ice Wine Is Called 'Nectar of the Gods'
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's called ice wine - dubbed "the nectar of the gods" for its rare, sweet intensity, and high price. It's so rare that in upstate New York, winemaker Art Hunt had to wait three years for the current harvest.
And then, finally, came that magic moment. With the temperature at 10 degrees and the berries just ripe enough, Hunt and his crew picked six tons of Vidal grapes and quickly pressed them to make the new ice wine now fermenting to drink by springtime.
Bert Miller can't wait for the day to arrive. Miller, the manager of the revolving rooftop restaurant above the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square, had bought out Hunt's 2002 ice wine supply and is awaiting the 2005 vintage in April.
"Ice wine is a hot item all over the country," said Miller, manager of The View.
If it's so "hot," why do so many folks say "huh?" when ice wine is mentioned?
Might be because some of the white elixir goes for as much as $100 - that is, for a slim, elegant half-bottle that is slightly larger than a can of soda. Hunt's goes for about $40 - less than half the price of the best from Canada, which leads the world in ice wine production.
At Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, about an hour from Rochester and five hours from Manhattan, good weather for picking grapes means the kind of subfreezing temperature that would ruin a normal harvest.
Hunt had waited three years for this perfectly icy morning. Getting up before dawn, Hunt, his adult son and daughter and a crew of workers rushed out to hand-pick the clusters of cold, firm berries - grapes that would have been harvested long ago at most vineyards.
"We gambled with Mother Nature and won," said Hunt, a sixth-generation farmer.
The temperature must be low enough so the water in each berry freezes - far lower than 32 degrees, given the concentration of sugar and acid. The ideal temp is about 10 degrees, when water turns into crystals that stay solid and are left behind in the berry when it is pressed.
"If you squeeze the frozen grapes hard, the ice crystals stay in the berries and out comes extremely concentrated juice and the flavors and acids," Hunt explained.
Before this final process, the grapes must ripen with the right balance of rain and sunshine, warmth and cold. In the cold, rainy season of 2003, Hunt's huge crop never quite made it to fruition.
This year, even with the vineyard ready for harvesting, there was one last danger: wild animals, from deer and turkeys to birds, aiming their hunger at "the only thing left that's delicious," Hunt said.
To protect the grapes, long, wide swaths of netting covered his vines until they were picked.
Ice wine is believed to have originated in Germany in the late 1700s. A farmer had failed to harvest his grapes before an early freeze set in, "then he rushed to get them in and started pressing them," Hunt explained. "Out came this incredible juice, sweet and fruitful. They fermented it and it was the most wonderful wine - rich, honey, plummy, raisiny, apricot flavors. Different people get different flavors when they taste it, because of the sensitivity of their taste buds. It's a pleasurable, 'wow' experience."
It wasn't until the 1980s that commercial ice wine production started in North America.
In 1981, the first was made in the United States, by the Great Western Winery in upstate New York's Finger Lakes region. It was an experiment, "but it was a wild success, winning many awards," said Hunt.
He jumped into production in 1987, adding ice wine to his other types of wine and also garnering awards with it. From his 2005 harvest, he expects to produce 400 cases of 12 half-bottles each.
Some will go to Manhattan's Union Square Wines & Spirits, which has four bottles left of Hunt's 2002 Vidal Blanc; only about 5,000 were produced that year. The store also carries ice wine from the largest Canadian maker, Inniskillin, made from frozen-on-the-vine Vidal and selling for $59.
"It's a special-occasion wine. Ice wine is intense - at once breathtakingly sweet and mouth-puckeringly tangy," said Alexis Beltrami, the store's wine manager. Sipped slowly after a meal, Beltrami said, "these are wines for contemplation."
Miller serves ice wine both at the Times Square restaurant, which stocks about a half dozen kinds, and to friends at his Long Island home. "It's a great wine to drink while sitting in front of the fireplace and having great conversation."
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| January 16th, 2006 03:25 PM |
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| TomL |
Look out NYC. I wanna smoke the big apple. Nanky make sure you tie the sheep up in the bed of your truck. The Jersey Turnpike is notorious for sheep bandits. Save Miss Lips for Gazza. Once you had her Gazza you won't go back home. |
| January 16th, 2006 03:32 PM |
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| TomL |
Sorry Miss LIp, I forgot she had that accident. She's now a one sided girl. |
| January 16th, 2006 11:29 PM |
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| Maxmeister |
I'm in emotional overdrive heading toward my 49 hours in NYC. The weather channel says no precip and 40s for thurs. and fri. It looks as if Nanky and I won't be renacting our rain scenario of 3 years ago.
Rick |
| January 17th, 2006 09:51 AM |
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| nankerphelge |
Rain Fell Down, that's for sure! |
| January 17th, 2006 12:54 PM |
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| jb |
Enjoy..............I shall be unavailable and cannot greet anyone. I wish you all a safe trip. |
| January 17th, 2006 01:34 PM |
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| Maxlugar |
[quote]jb wrote:
Enjoy..............I shall be unavailable and cannot greet anyone. I wish you all a safe trip.
You will greet me. It is our last chance.
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| January 17th, 2006 02:08 PM |
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| PartyDoll MEG |
Out the door....Big Apple here I come.....
See Ya all soon!!!! |
| January 17th, 2006 02:08 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I fell down whilst all hopped up on pain pills and booze and broke my greet bone. The doctor says that there will be no greeting for at least 4 months. And if I have to have a greetoplasty, it could be as much as a year before I can greet again. I go in for my GRI Scan later today. They say a greet scan is painless but one could feel claustrophobic. I've never been afraid of heights before, yet I can't help feeling apprehensive.
Worst case scenario...a greet graft and total greetectomy.
*shudder* |
| January 17th, 2006 02:28 PM |
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| nankerphelge |
If you get a greet graft, be sure to use penis skin!
That way everyone'll be jerkin' you off and they won't even know it!! |
| January 17th, 2006 02:33 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
You are wise in the ways of science good sir knight.
My only question...when they hit my happy spot...will my leg start to going? Will I spew my lunch on them and then crave a cigarette?
I guess we must make the best of a sad situation though...
*reminder to self, only eat stuff that tastes good on the return trip back out.* |
| January 17th, 2006 02:42 PM |
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| jb |
I will greet at lower concessions MSG...............final word on the subject for me. I will also greert next morning at
Jewish bagel place.... |
| January 17th, 2006 04:39 PM |
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| glencar |
'jewish bagel place'? In Manhattan? where can one find such an odd concoction? |
| January 17th, 2006 04:47 PM |
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| SheRat |
"the manager of the revolving rooftop restaurant above the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square,"
There's a goddamn revolving rooftop restaurant in the hotel??
Ohhhhhhhh, babies... |
| January 17th, 2006 04:49 PM |
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| LadyJane |
quote:
SheRat wrote:
"the manager of the revolving rooftop restaurant above the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square,"
There's a goddamn revolving rooftop restaurant in the hotel??
Ohhhhhhhh, babies...
Oh yeah..........do you think I'd select anything BUT the finest?? 
This place has over 46 floors!!!!!!!!!!
LJ. |
| January 17th, 2006 04:56 PM |
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| nankerphelge |
It is the only one in Manhattan as I recall.. |
| January 17th, 2006 05:06 PM |
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| pdog |
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
Oh yeah..........do you think I'd select anything BUT the finest??
This place has over 46 floors!!!!!!!!!!
LJ.
I wonder how high we'll be? Both physically and spiritually!!!
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| January 17th, 2006 06:05 PM |
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| SheRat |
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
Oh yeah..........do you think I'd select anything BUT the finest??
This place has over 46 floors!!!!!!!!!!
LJ.
What is the name of the company again?
LJ Cosmetics? |
| January 17th, 2006 06:40 PM |
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| TomL |
New company RO Pharmicuticallllllllllllllll. We put all your pain to ease. And the rain fell down.............. |
| January 17th, 2006 06:46 PM |
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| nankerphelge |
That's right, the drink-your-ass-off-smoke-your-lungs-out-rock-your-eardrums so you can rest medicine!! |
| January 17th, 2006 08:23 PM |
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| pdog |
Medication! |
| January 17th, 2006 09:33 PM |
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| Riffhard |
By the way,I have an extra for Weds show. It is sec 330 I believe,but don't let that scare you. It's a good ticket from what I can tell. Plus I need to sell it! So if'n any of yous needs a ticky please talk to Riffy!
Riffy |
| January 17th, 2006 09:38 PM |
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| playguitar |
Hey , any of you fine Rolling Stones fans have a spare tickee for tomorrow or The 20th. I havw cash . Thanks, Keith. |
| January 18th, 2006 12:12 AM |
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| nankerphelge |
If I wasn't so bogged down at work Riffy, "weed" be in NYC right frickin' now preparing for that show!
Dammit!
Nanky's Law:
Never greet Riffy without a spliffy
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| January 18th, 2006 07:52 AM |
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| LadyJane |
I'm out the door.
See most of you later.
The Summit is HERE!!!!!!!!!
LJ. |
| January 18th, 2006 08:39 AM |
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| glencar |
See ya in hours! Gazza & Egon are probably on their planes already... |
| January 18th, 2006 09:06 AM |
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| Maxlugar |
This is most exciting!!!
All these great Stonesicles flying through the air towards me...
"Come, my Stoneian kin, come to me! FLY!!! Maxy is waiting! Maxy will catch you!!!!"
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| January 18th, 2006 09:15 AM |
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| throbby |
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| January 18th, 2006 06:52 PM |
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| nankerphelge |
Just spoke to some of the crazies at Stout's
LJ, Maxy, Luxy and Throbby, Jaxx, Gazza are all there.
egon is in a taxi on the way!
I'm green with envy! |
| January 18th, 2006 07:35 PM |
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| Nellcote |
Coulda/woulda/shoulda is my battle cry.........
Alas, family/work obligations have had the best of me... |
