Ghislain Houben – Appealing – Ice Wine

Golden wine in terms of colour, it has a high viscosity as well so it’s doubtlessly indicating some kind of sweetness. The nose if very intense, there’s some floral notes there almost like chamomile, and then we can add some sensation of sweetness like honey, beeswax, and layers of really sweet apple – it almost brings my mind to cider of calvados in terms of aromas; so really intense. Extremely high sweetness on the palate, but it’s counterbalanced by a very fresh acidity as well, it really gives you that nice mouthwatering feeling. Plenty of intensity here, again I would talk about very ripe or almost concentrated apples, in terms of fruit, with an extra addition of glazed – almost honey-glazed – banana or something, really ripe and sweet. It’s a very intense wine, it keeps lingering for a good while, and I think this is a wine that you drink a few centiliters of because it gives you so much in terms of intensity. Very interesting, I have no particular feeling for what kind of style this is; again it brings my mind to some apple ice wine I tasted from Canada due to that flavour of very concentrated apple. Well-made, and particularly what I like with a wine with that degree of sweetness is that it has a well-preserved acidity. Very nice wine.

Tasted by the Best Sommelier of the World, Andreas Larsson.