It’s Easy Being Green

When we ran to Sam’s Club the other day we perused the wine selection like we always do. We’ll typically pick up a bottle or two to enjoy over the next couple of weeks. One half bottle practically jumped off the shelf at us. The frosted black bottle of German Eiswein Nachtgold looked mysterious and the description on the bottle sounded downright tasty!

“These precious grapes from which we press our Ice-wine are harvested in the early morning hours when it’s still dark and frozen. Our vintners therefore call this noble and sweet wine “Nachtgold” which means “Gold of the Night”.

The wine hails from the Rheinhessen region of Germany where there are about 26,000 hectacres of vineyards.  It’s known as the largest viticulture region in Germany.  This Eiswein is produced when temperatures in the vineyard drop to 19 degrees Fahrenheit or what they consider a “hard freeze”.  In the darkness, the grapes are harvested frozen and immediately crushed because the water inside the grapes is still frozen, leaving the vintner with a golden yellow liquid to ferment.  It maintains a golden-yellow color after maturation and leaves intense aromas of apple, peaches and melons.  It has a rich mouth feel and a smooth sweetness of caramel or honey.  We loved it.  I highly recommend this dessert wine if you run across it sometime.