Canadian Ice

I hate Winter. After Epiphany with its galette des rois there is nothing left to look forward to. All that comes my way is cold, snow, and ice and I always slip on the ice. Aussies aren’t made for ice, so I spend much of January and February inside cursing Canada and the cold. I don’t even have the spirit to celebrate Australia day on January 26 with a lamington or slice of pavlova.

Well my new year’s resolution is to be more positive about the early month's of the year. So I am trying love ice and not just as essential to the making of a martini. There are two very, although not exclusively Canadian, contributions to the world of ice, the Ice Hotel in Quebec and Icewine from Niagara.

Every winter, just outside of Quebec City, a hotel is erected from snow and ice. I was lucky enough to visit it during a food shoot for a Gourmet Magazine. While Gourmet is no longer with us the images are, and they show just how beautiful ice can be, even if it is very cold.

Wandering through the hotel, very warmly dressed, on a sunny winter’s day you experience the magical play of light off the snow and through the walls of ice bricks. There are large rooms with magnificent ice chandeliers, furniture carved from ice and there is even an ice chapel, with the altar and pews all hewn from ice, a very popular place for winter weddings. While there is no food in the hotel you can stop at the ice bar where drinks come in glasses sculpted from ice.  You can also stay overnight, sleeping on an ice bed, covered in animal hides and equipped with a polar sleeping bags, however once the sun sets I suggest returning to Quebec City for a bed in a heated hotel and a good meal in one of Quebec City’s restaurants.

Also in January in the Niagara region south of Toronto, another icy event takes place - the Icewine Festival. Icewine is made in several countries, although in Canada the climate guarantees that every year the grapes freeze on the vine. The grapes must be picked quickly and pressed while still frozen so that the water crystals are left behind. The resulting wonderfully sweet liquid is Icewine. While some of the best Icewines are made in Canada, they regularly win at international competitions; I often find them too sweet to match with food. As a result several bottles have languished in my wine cellar. This holiday season, with friends visiting from France, seemed the ideal time to open them up.

The first and oldest was 1995 Konzelmann Vidal that we drank with a tart tatin at Christmas dinner. The wine had developed a very dark golden colour and while intense, it wasn’t overwhelming sweet, perfect with the caramelized apples and buttery pastry.

The second bottle, a mere 200 milliliters, was a 1999 Riesling from Malivoire that had been harvested on Christmas Eve that year. The label on the back of the bottle listed the names of those intrepid folk who’d forgone their holiday celebrations and braved the cold to harvest the grapes that night. I’m glad they did. The wine was perfect with the last of the rich creamy foie gras terrine, and did not overwhelm it with sugar.

For the rest of the winter I am planning to celebrate Canadian ice, both solid and liquid. Perhaps I’ll even visit Quebec’s Ice Hotel and enjoy a glass of Canadian Icewine at the ice bar, but I won’t be staying overnight.

Photography by Rob Fiocca