Vidal Blanc
The ice wine grape: a thick-skinned French-American white that hangs on the vine into deep winter. It also makes fruity off-dry wines from Michigan to Virginia.
Vidal Blanc is the grape behind most North American ice wine. French breeder Jean Louis Vidal developed it in the 1930s, hoping to make Cognac. Instead it found its calling in Ontario, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Its thick skins let the grapes hang on the vine long after harvest, waiting for the hard freeze that ice wine requires.
What It Tastes Like
As a table wine, Vidal is fruity and fresh, with grapefruit, pineapple and green apple and a hint of honey. It's usually made off-dry. As an ice wine, it turns intensely sweet and concentrated, with candied peach, apricot, lychee, honey and orange marmalade. Its natural acidity keeps those wines vivid rather than syrupy.
Where It Grows
Michigan is one of the country's leading ice wine producers, and much of that is Vidal from the northern peninsulas and the Lake Michigan Shore. Vidal is also widely grown in New York (the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie), Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey.
What to Look For
- Vidal ice wine is a splurge, usually sold in half-bottles, and the best reason to know this grape.
- Late-harvest Vidal is a less expensive taste of the same style.
- Off-dry Vidal is a popular tasting-room white.
- Dry and sparkling versions are crisp and citrusy.
How Ice Wine Works
For true ice wine, grapes are picked frozen on the vine, usually at around 15°F or colder, often in the middle of the night. They're pressed while still frozen, so only a few drops of very sweet, concentrated juice come out.
Where to Find Vidal Blanc
Wine regions on American Winery Guide where Vidal Blanc is grown or poured: