Wine gift basket

"I know my method for making ice wine is controversial," said Thomas Laszlo, winemaker at Heron Hill Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York. "But my wines get high ratings."

It was just before Thanksgiving that I interviewed Laszlo for the second time. The first time was after his 2002 Dry Riesling took the Best White Wine award at the 2004 San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Laszlo is a Canadian, and he made his first ice wines in the early 1990s, at Henry of Pelham Winery in St. Catharines, Ontario. He came to Heron Hill in the summer of 2002.

On this visit, I walked the Ingle vineyard with Laszlo and John Ingle, the owner of Heron Hill, to look at the vines that had been set aside for ice wine.

Black plastic nets covered the grapes. The bottom of the nets was closed by white twist-ties. Nets keep the birds out, and they also catch any grapes that fall off the vines.

Laszlo explained that lightweight plastic nets are used by large commercial operations, because tractors lay out their nets. At Heron Hill, nets are put on by hand, in 100-foot sections, so they use heavy-grade netting that can be re-used several times.

The vines must drop their leaves before the nets are put on, because leaves catch in the nets. Picking is done in the dark, by the light of a tractor, so if there are leaves in the nets, pickers can mistake them for grapes. Wet leaves in the nets can also cause disease.

"The grapes are ready," Laszlo said. "We just need a frost. See the color. I want 50% yellow-green grapes and 50% pink ones. The pink ones give the wine a peachy, tropical flavor, but I want enough yellow-green ones to keep the varietal character of the Riesling grapes. Also, the grapes are healthy. Botrytis in ice wine is a sin," he said.

Laszlo likes botrytis--just not in ice wine. His parents were born in Hungary, so he grew up drinking Tokaji, which is noted for its botrytis.

In 1997, Laszlo decided he wanted to be part of the renaissance that was underway in the vineyards of Tokaj after the fall of communism. So he took a job as technical director for the Bordelais-owned Chateau Pajzos and Chateau Megyer. For two years, he lived full-time in Hungary, overseeing production from grape to bottle. In 1998, he made the first Hungarian ice wine--400 liters of it--but Hungarian labeling laws didn't have a category for ice wine. It had to be labeled "late harvest."

In 2000, Laszlo's wife, Jane, became pregnant, and she wanted to raise their child near family. So he bought a house in Ontario and became a flying winemaker, living in both Hungary and Canada. He was also the liaison to North America and Western Europe for Ch. Pajzos and Ch. Megyer. When he was in Germany, he traded his Tokaji for German ice wine.

As we walked between the vines, Laszlo talked again about the harvest. He looks for a high pressure weather pattern, blue-yellow sunsets and daytime temperatures of about 25[degrees]F. When this happens, it is likely that the nights will reach the ideal picking temperature of 18[degrees]F. He also looks for a night without wind. Wind stirs up air barriers, and can cause the grapes to thaw.

"If the grapes have gone through a few frosts, the wine will have more character, but the longer you wait, the more grapes you will lose and the more sorting you will have to do to get rid of rotten or imperfect grapes," he said.

At Heron Hill, the pickers need about four hours to pick the crop. In 2003, they netted three-fourths of an acre, or about 2.5 tons of grapes. Laszlo would like to get about 4 tons per acre, so that each vine yields a good crop. If the crop per vine is too small, the grapes will ripen too quickly, lowering the acid.

The best time to harvest is late November to mid-December. "It's hard when we have to pick on Christmas, but it happens," he said.

"If the grapes are harvested in January, some will be dehydrated, and they will have less acid. The sugars also increase, so it may be necessary to go for higher alcohols to reduce the residual sugar."

I asked him why he thought his methods for making ice wine might be viewed as controversial.

"I do everything the opposite of the New World paradigm," he responded. "The standard is a cloying, carmel-colored ice wine with high residual sugar. I want my wine to be slightly sweet and crisp, with an almost water white color. I want it to be identified by aroma and taste as Riesling."

Laszlo thinks that the Canadian legal minimum of 35[degrees] Brix encourages the idea that more sugar is better, so Canadian ice wines can be overly sweet and lack varietal character. German law sets an equivalent of about 26[degrees] Brix as a minimum, and he feels that is about right. "The best ones I've tasted were the leanest," he said. He likes his residual sugar at 12-14%.

His goal is an edgy wine with a razor-sharp edge. He wants his wine to clean the palate, leaving resonating flavors--intense, but like a laser. With the 2003 Heron Hill Riesling Ice Wine, he hit his ideal numbers: 12.1% residual sugar, 9.5% alcohol, 13.5% TA and a pH of 2.95.

To achieve his goal, he ferments in small batches so he can control a short, hot, oxidative fermentation. The standard is the opposite: a long, cool, reductive fermentation. He also fines before fermentation. The standard is to fine after fermentation, which, he said, strips the wine.

In the standard long, cool, reductive fermentation, the yeast is handicapped because of an unhealthy environment, Laszlo said. There is not enough oxygen; the temperatures are too low and osmotic pressure from the sugar stresses the yeast. "Stressed yeast produces weird esters," like iso-amylacetate (banana), he said.

Another problem with the standard method is high volatile acidity. Canadian ice wine can legally have much more VA than dry wine. "Volatile acidity becomes part of the flavor profile of Canadian ice wine. This is a mistake," Laszlo said.

No special equipment is needed to make ice wine, but whole-bunch pressing is usually done outside to keep the picking and pressing temperature the same. The grapes are a frozen cake, so if they are kept cold, there is little dilution.

"If I were doing 1,000 cases," Laszlo said, "I'd use a hydraulic basket press, but I only do 80 cases of ice wine, so it is not worth buying one."

If he is pressing more than 1.5 tons, he uses his Bucher RPF 30. For smaller batches, he uses his small, upright basket press, which will handle 10 boxes or 200 pounds of grapes.

He uses water, not air, in the central membrane of the basket press, because water is safer. "If you fill the membrane with air, the pressure could launch the berries, so you have to watch out for flying marbles," he noted.

Though some winemakers use other varietals to make ice wine, Laszlo said he is devoted to Riesling.

"As long as I am winemaker, our ice wine will be made from Riesling," he said. "I've made ice wine from Cabernet Franc, but it tastes like Kool Aid.

Gewurztraminer makes an interesting ice wine, but it has low acid and high pH; it's better as a late harvest. Chardonnay is subject to botrytis, so it doesn't make the kind of ice wine that I like."

Laszlo also dismisses Vidal as a viable ice wine grape.

"There is less dehydration and fewer problems with birds, so Vidal is less risky, but it's a no-brainer. It's too aromatic. It gives you a big hit of flavor, but it is not magical. Riesling is like Mona Lisa's smile. She isn't grinning at you. Vidal is like Pamela Anderson. It reveals all its charms in one second. I like the layers of flavors that come out slowly as Riesling warms in the glass."

When asked about the future of the ice wine market in the United States, Laszlo predicted that it will grow into a healthy one.

"In the last 10 years, the Canadians built somewhere around a million-bottle industry. At Heron Hill, our production is small, but we are establishing our niche. Our 2003 ice wine sells for $100 for a 375ml bottle. Next year it might be more."

Laszlo believes that ice wine is a specialty product, not a wine that will be purchased for regular consumption. "Most people buy it as a gift, especially in Asia. Everyone knows it is expensive, so it is a very special gift," he said. In high-end restaurants in Las Vegas or Manhattan, for example, ice wine is offered by the glass, and is sometimes given free to diners to finish off a particularly lavish meal.

In Europe, especially Germany, it is traditional to give a bottle of ice wine to a newborn so the wine can be opened for the child's wedding. Laszlo expects his ice wine to age as well as the ones made in Germany.