Icewine
Grapes are left on the vine well into the winter months. The resulting freezing and thawing of the grapes dehydrates the fruit, and concentrates the sugars, acids, and extracts in the berries, thereby intensifying the flavours and adding complexity to the wine made from it.
Genuine icewine must follow VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) regulations that prohibit any artificial freezing of grapes. The grapes are painstakingly picked by hand in their natural frozen state, ideally at temperatures of -10 to -13 degrees C -- sometimes the picking must be done at night to take advantage of the temperature. Yields are very low, often as little as 5-10 percent of normal.
The frozen grapes are pressed in the extreme cold. The water in the juice remains frozen as ice crystals, and only a few drops of sweet concentrated juice is obtained. This juice is then fermented very slowly for several months, stopping naturally.
The finished icewine is intensely sweet and flavorful in the initial mouth sensation. The balance is achieved by the acidity, which gives a clean, dry finish. The nose of icewine recalls lychee nuts. The wine tastes of tropical fruits, with shadings of peach nectar and mango.
Icewine is winter's gift to the wine lover: one of the best-kept secrets of the wine world that garners gold medals in virtually every competition in which it is entered.
The greatest of international accolade for Canadian Icewine was bestowed on Inniskillin 1989 Icewine at Vinexpo, Bordeaux, in June 1991. This wine, judged by an international panel, was accorded the fair's highest award, Le Grand Prix d'Honneur.
Excellent stuff. :)
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Friday, November 15, 2002
When I sing this hymn, there is the tremendous irony and wonder -- I am the great unfaithful singing about the great faithful. What if the faithfulness I know of God includes his faithfulness to send me to hell? Will he grieve for me?
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Sarah Gaw, 25, one of the lucky ones who managed to get an overseas education without being straddled with a bond or debt, finds herself home free, but ironically directionless. "What would I do for a career," she thinks, even as her friends scheme about getting out of their bonds.
Gaw, the older of two sisters in a traditional family, was a regular, run of the mill student who did resonably well in the usual good schools. Perhaps one of the best things in her educational path was getting into the Gifted Education Programme which gave her the tools to think. She had her university education in a small liberal arts college and graduated with a major in English and Religion and Philosophy. The year was 1999.
2000, she spent in the United States cleaning toilets, cutting grass and helping a youth and international ministry in a small town interdenominational church. Today she is presently employed by a large Protestant church as a Researcher cum Powerpointer cum Sitter downer in front of a computer.
She knows she cannot complain. She has fish, friends, family and a salary to count on. Her friend, Tan Ah Lian, also 25 and in the same directionless state, reminds her about the people who do not have degrees in these tough times. Apoova Ali, another peer, though a doctor, slogs many a night on call and corned beef sandwiches. This is the lot of life, perhaps what a book aptly calls the "Quarterlife Crises".
Yet what bothers her most is not the job or the money or the direction, but the pause in her life of faith. She reasons that with faith, one can see flowers in dunghills; without, there are cracks in the mansion. It is not the lack of a career but the loss of the belief in God's destiny for her life that rattles her cage.
But it isn't the end of the story, at least not yet. And as long as the story isn't over, there is hope yet.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
The liberal young
A study conducted by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS) in 2000 revealed the changing attitudes of today's youths. Younger Singaporeans (below 30 years old) were more liberal than older Singaporeans (above 30 years old) on each of the five attitudes surveyed, although the magnitude of difference depended on the issue in question.
- 80% of older Singaporeans found it unacceptable for an unmarried couple to live together but only 51% of younger Singaporeans felt the same.
- 68% of older Singaporeans found divorce unacceptable but only 47% of younger Singaporeans shared the same view.
- 99% of older persons and 71% of younger persons found homosexual behaviour unacceptable.
Friday, November 08, 2002
Stopping by woods on a snowy evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and the frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost
