Inniskillin Tasting

Went to another one of these bourgeois tastings at VinoVenue w/ Rourke. This one was an ice wine event run by people representing Inniskillin, a Canadian ice wine producer. They brought 3 people with them, including a local distribution/biz dev person. There were lots of props and propaganda. Unfortunately, the main host/speaker was not as amusing as the British port guy from the previous VinoVenue event (sadly, no notes from then). The guy said "wine geeky" a lot (and seemed to be kinda wine geeky himself). Rourke calls Inniskillin a "marketing machine."

Pearl Vidal 2003
Sweet fruity, not much acid taste but not cloying (balance?). Very thick, not citrusy

Oak Aged Vidal Icewine 2003
Said to be basically the same as Pearl except oak rather than steel aged. Supposedly very different taste, but I was unable to detect any variance from the prior.

Silver Riesling 2002
Lighter odor than the Vidals. Less honey odor, more of some kind of fruit, maybe citrus? Much less sweet, maybe floral. Some kind of cleanser scent; host claims it is desirable

Cabernet Franc 2002
Not as acidic, not particularly "red" (especially compared to late harvest Zin). Nose hard to distinguish from Vidal.

Sparkling 2001
Not made through secondary fermentation (makes bottles explode). Fermentation done in tanks to control pressure before bottling. All kinds of wierd flavors in it. Very interesting.

In the end, none of the ice wines were really that awesome, only the sparkling was kind of interesting.