We lovingly decant wines from the West Coast to Western Samoa and beyond, and then give you a highly opinionated, pocket-sized review.

Splash down

2018 Inniskillin Okanagan Estate Vidal Icewine

Their words

“Aromas of pear, lychee, mango and citrus that carry through to the palate. It is well structured with great balance between acid and sugar with a long lasting finish.”

Suggested perfect pairings

Some people have an endless appetite for all-things-sweet: Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg’s The Fly; former Queen of France and unabashed cake enthusiast Marie Antoinette; your six-year-old nephew with the three-pack-a-day Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip habit. For those folks, Inniskillin Vidal will go wonderfully with a Tropical Cloud cake from Cadeaux Bakery or homemade Khao Niaow Ma Muang (go with Philippine mangos and don’t forget that you need sticky rice—not Thai, Jasmine, or the fabled San Francisco treat known as Rice-a-Roni). For those on the savoury side of the vineyard, a sinfully sweet glass or three of Inniskillin will go smashingly with Nunes Farms Spicy Cocktail almonds from Gourmet Warehouse or a slice or seven of Garbriel Coulet Roquefort from Les Amis du Fromage.

Duly noted

Assuming you’re not a block-heater repairman, snowmobile collector, or outdoors ice hockey enthusiast, Canadian winters are only good for making us appreciate spring, summer, and the fall. Looking on the sunny side of the frozen street, they’ve given the world the golden elixir known as ice wine. You know the drill–grapes are harvested at around -8 Celsius or lower after they’ve frozen on the vine. They are then pressed before the crystallized water within melts. Think concentrated flavour bomb right off the starting line, that turned into something sinfully honeyed and complex during the fermenting process. So despite coming from the frozen tundra of the Great White North (Oliver, B.C. for those keeping score with an atlas), Inniskillin explodes with tropical flavours: luscious Okanagan apricot, citrus-kissed peach, exotic lychee, and fresh-picked mango. All of which is to say that if another four weeks of Canadian winter make you want to burn your Canada Goose Snow Mantra Parka and Pajar boots and light out for Mexico, there’s an alternative. Learn to embrace the cold with Inniskillin Vidal, which rightly bills itself as “ideally suited to our endless winter season”. A raging bonfire in the middle of nowhere—preferably up North—will make an already fantastically Canadian thing ever better, with the Lik-M-Aid optional.