Vintage Hotels’ Icewine Dessert & Cocktail Recipes

January is Niagara’s world-renowned Icewine grape harvest season. Every January this luscious, intensely flavoured wine is honoured at various wineries and local events like the Icewine Village in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

To celebrate Icewine season we’ve asked the teams at Inn On The Twenty Restaurant at Inn On The Twenty, Cannery Restaurant at Pillar and Post,  Noble Restaurant at Prince of Wales, Tiara Restaurant at Queen’s Landing and Headwaters Restaurant at Millcroft Inn & Spa to create Icewine recipes that you can make and enjoy at home. All recipes compliments of our Food & Beverage teams. 

Icewine Panacotta

Compliments of Pastry Chef Clyde Pereira from Inn On The Twenty Restaurant at Inn On The Twenty

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 packet Unflavored gelatin
3 cup Heavy cream
2 cup Greek Yogurt
2 tsp Vanilla
¾ cup Sugar
4 tbsp Icewine                                                 

Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix gelatin with 3 tablespoons of cold water. Set aside to let gelatin bloom.
2. In a pot, mix half the cream (1.5 cups) and sugar and bring to a boil.
3. In a bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients and add the boiled cream and sugar mixture untill combined.
4. Pour into 6 – 8 molds or ramekins and refrigerate until set, preferably overnight.
5. Serve chilled with raspberry coulis and maple shortbread.

Tips:

This can be made ahead of time and be frozen. Ice wine can be substituted for any type of alcohol.

Dionysus’ Dream

(Icewine Honey & Smoke)/ Compliments of Food & Beverage Manager Jeremy Harb from Noble Restaurant at Prince of Wales

Ingredients:

¾ oz Vidal Icewine
¾ oz Mezcal
½ oz Jack Daniels Honey
½ oz Empress Gin
¼ oz fresh Lime juice
½ oz Niagara honey water
2 oz Non-alcoholic ginger beer
Tajin rimmed coup glass
Charred orange wheel 

Method:

1. Moisten glass rim with a lime and rim with Tajin spice (Can be purchased from any Bulk Barn or Latin store).  
2. Shake all ingredients, except for Icewine and ginger beer, with ice for 1 minute. 
3. Strain into the glass and top with the Icewine and lastly ginger beer. 
4. Garnish with a gently torched orange wheel.

Queen 75

Compliments of Food & Beverage Manager Ferdinand DonGriot from Tiara Restaurant at Queen’s Landing

Ingredients: 

1 oz Dillon’s Vodka
1 oz Inniskilin Vidal Icewine
Inniskillin Sparkling Wine
Pomegranate syrup
Lemon & rosemary

Method:

1. Add ice, Vodka, Icewine, splash of pomegranate syrup into shaker until incorporated.
2. Pour into flute glass and top with sparkling wine.
3. Garnish with lemon, rosemary and pomegranate seeds.

Simple Syrup:

1. Mix 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a pot and boil until sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the rosemary and pomegranate at the end, to allow it boil for a couple of minutes to absorb the flavours.

Pearly Alive

Compliments of Food & Beverage Manager Maribeth McKey from Inn On The Twenty Restaurant at Inn On The Twenty

Ingredients:

1oz Forty Creek Rye
1/2oz Disaronno Amaretto
Bartlett Pear Purée
1oz Icewine

Method:

Add all ingredients in a glass and top with Icewine foam.

Icewine foam:
This recipe will make enough foam for 2 drinks

Acid – 3/4 ounces Lemon juice
Sweetener – 1 oz Icewine
Water – 3/4 oz, to thin it out
Protein – 1 Egg white

Method:

1. Add egg white last into shaker and shake vigorously for a minute or until most of the liquid has turned into a foam.
2. Scoop out and top onto the cocktails. Important that this is done without any ice or cold liquids.

Bartlett Pear Purée: 

1 L of Pear purée
8-10 pears; peeled cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (I use Bartlett)
¼ cup Water
2 tsp fresh Lemon juice
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
½ tsp ground Ginger
½ tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

1. Combine pears, water, lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pears have softened, about 25-30 minutes.
2. Use an immersion blender to process the pear sauce until smooth. If you prefer a chunky pear sauce, mash with a potato masher. You can also transfer the cooked pear mixture to a food processor or blender to process, just make sure the pear sauce has cooled down.
3. Once the pear sauce has cooled down, pour into glass or plastic containers. Cover and store in the refrigerator. The pear sauce will keep in the fridge for one week. You can also freeze or can the pear sauce.

Smoked Sweet Cherry Bourbon

Compliments of Food & Beverage Team from Cannery Restaurant at Pillar and Post. *Award winning cocktail from the 2019 Icewine Festival.

Ingredients:

1 oz Burbon
1 oz Inniskillin Vidal Icewine
Splash of reduced Amarena cherry simple syrup
Smoked cherry and charred rosemary as garnish

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a glass and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

Amarena Cherry Simple Syrup

1. In a medium pot, combine 1 1/3 cups water, sugar, and amarena cherries.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat stirring continuously until sugar dissolves.
3. Boil 3-5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Let cool completely.

Icewine Kiss

Compliments of Food & Beverage Manger Jeffrey Bursey from  Headwaters Restaurant at Millcroft Inn & Spa

Ingredients:

1 oz Vodka
1 oz Icewine
Sparkling white wine
Orange peel

Method:

Pour 1 oz of Vodka and Icewine in a martini glass, top with sparkling white wine and garnish with an orange twist.