Ingredients:
4 oz (125 g) (6 yolks) egg yolks
4 oz (125 g) sugar
8 oz (250 g) Nova Scotia Icewine or late harvest wine
1 tbsp (15 ml) Lemon, lime or orange juice

Procedure:
1) In a stainless steel bowl, beat the yolks until foamy.

2) Beat in the sugar, wine and juice.  Place over a hot water bath and continue beating until thick and hot.

3) Serve hot as a dessert/pudding or as a sauce for fruit or fritters.  Serve without delay, it will lose some foaminess and begin to separate if it is allowed to stand

4) For this preparation place assorted fresh berries on a plate or in a shallow soup bowl.  Cover with the sabayon, serve with a crisp cookie or biscuit, lady finger, etc.  Garnish with mint.
Served as a warm pudding this recipe yields 4 – 6 servings. Serve over fruit for 8 – 10 servings.
Recipe provided by: Chef Mark Gabrieau, Gabrieau’s Bistro

We had a great time tasting Icewine this morning in-studio at KOOL 96.5.

Winemaker, Mike Mainguy, from Luckett Vineyards brought his Isolde Vidal Icewine and Guinevere Iced Apple Wine to sample while we talked about  this year’s Icewine Festival.

Icewine-inspired dinners, vertical Icewine tastings and lots of great outdoor events are planned from February 2-12. Now all we need is some winter weather!

If you would like to listen to today’s interview, click here.

For more information about Luckett Vineyards’ Luge event click here.

These are just a few of your choices for Domaine de Grand Pre‘s Cheese, Ice and Fire event. In addition to amazing dining selections, finish the evening with Icewine and specialty coffee around the bonfire on their beautiful pergola.

Click here for more information.

Date: Friday, January 27, 2012
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Delta Halifax, Baronet Ballroom
Cost: $40+HST/ticket
For more information and to buy tickets: Call the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia (AANS) at (902)422-6234 or aans@eastlink.ca.

At Sip ‘n Shuck, learn how to shuck an oyster, get wine pairing tips from a sommelier and enjoy live entertainment.

One of the best food events in Nova Scotia, you can sample local aquaculture products prepared in standard, not so standard, and unimaginably delicious ways – paired with our award-winning Nova Scotia wines. Get ready to treat your taste buds to a Nova Scotia kitchen party.

Presented by: AANS, Delta Barrington & Halifax, Discovermussels.com, Nova Scotia department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Wines of Nova Scotia

Go North Tours is pleased to announce the return of the Perfect Pairings Progressive Dinner and Wine Tour for the Nova Scotia Icewine Festival! The February 4^th date sold out in under a week but there are still seats available for the February 11^th departure. This is a fully escorted wine tour that explores pairing food and wine while enjoying a sumptuous three course meal at three wineries in the Annapolis Valley. This is a very unique event that is perfect to share with your Valentine!

Domaine de Grand Pré will be the first stop on the dinner tour where guests will enjoy a private wine and icewine tasting followed by a delicious appetizer perfectly paired with a glass one of Grand Pré’s award-winning wine!  Once that has awakened the senses, it’s off to Blomidon Estate Winery for a tour of the facilities, a private wine tasting and a mouth-watering main course with two of Blomidon Estate Winery’s exceptional wines featured alongside the meal. The last stop on the tour is Gaspereau Vineyards for a final wine tasting of Gaspereau’s finest wines and then a special dessert for guests to enjoy with one of Gaspereau’s unique dessert wines. The three course meal that is inspired by chocolate and has been created by Red Seal Chef Kerina Dysktra of Let’s Eat Personal Chef Services will amaze the taste buds!

This special evening can be booked through Go North Tours by calling 1-877-365-2552 or by emailing info@gonorthtours.com. Space is limited!! The cost of the Perfect Pairings Progressive Dinner and Wine Tour is $115/person plus HST. The tour departs from the Tattingstone Inn in Wolfville at 3pm on February 11th. A special accommodation package can be arranged with Go North Tours that includes the tour for two plus one night at the Tattingstone Inn from $328/couple plus HST, allowing guests to fully enjoy more Icewine Festival events in the valley the following day!

From John Warner, Warner Vineyards:

The first night we went out was Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning when the temperature dropped to -11 deg C. Luckily the temperature warmed up by  daylight so the workers had plenty of time to be home for Christmas.

The second harvest night was early yesterday morning (Jan 4, at 3:00am) when the temperatures plummeted to -12.5 deg C and remained there until lunchtime. There was very little snow on the ground during harvest which made harvesting the frozen grapes much easier than our typical late December/early January Icewine harvest. Pressing of the frozen grapes is continuing and we will likely be finished soon.

The resulting Icewine juice is very sweet and thick with some beautiful flavours and aromas. The juice (approximately 4500 liters) is sold directly to local Nova Scotia wineries for fermentation.

Nova Scotia Winter Icewine Festival
February 2 to 12, 2012
Celebrate Nova Scotia’s internationally award-winning Icewines. Sample Icewine paired with local cuisine, learn how Icewine is made, try your hand at pruning or book a Winter Icewine Experience Getaway. Nova Scotia winemakers and some of the province’s finest chefs come together to celebrate their passion for local food and wine during the fifth annual Winter Icewine Festival.

Most Icewine harvests happen at night because the sun starts to melt the grapes on the vine in the morning, diluting the flavor. Icewine grapes need to be harvested at -8C or colder to concentrate the sugars and flavours in the juice, leaving behind the frozen ice crystals. Even the pressing happens in a cold, uninsulated building in the middle of the vineyard.

Nova Scotia Icewines consistently win top honours in national and international competitions. Jost Vineyards 1999 Vidal Icewine was Canada’s Wine of The Year at the 2000 All Canadian Wine Championships.

Other than Nova Scotia ski hill operators hoping to make snow, John and Anne Warner were amongst the few people in Nova Scotia pleased about the cold temperatures last night.

The Warners are the largest producers of Icewine juice in Nova Scotia. From their vineyards on the edge of the north mountain, north of Kentville, their juice is sold to Blomidon Estate Winery, Jost Vineyards, Gaspereau Vineyards and Domaine de Grand Pré.

“With a mild November and December, there is always the worry that the harvest may not happen until well into January, by which time, many of the grapes would have fallen to the ground , reducing the Icewine harvest,” says John Warner. “Most harvests take place over three or four nights, but this year we managed to get everything harvested between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. last night.”