Gold!

Dan Smothergill won a gold medal at the NY State fair for his 2008 Steuben Ice Wine. Congratulations Dan!

Dan Smothergill won a gold medal at the NY State fair for his 2008 Steuben Ice Wine. Congratulations Dan!

A gold medal win, now that's impressive!! Will this be followed by a mandatory drug test??!!

[Jenise]

How wonderful. Congratulations, Dan!

Congratulations to Dan. Was it white, pink or red?

[David M. Bueker]

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

Dan Smothergill won a gold medal at the NY State fair for his 2008 Steuben Ice Wine. Congratulations Dan!

Howie,
You know that I like your regular Steuben wine, and an ice wine from the grape must be great. Big time congratulations to Dan.

[James Roscoe]

I hope Dan will bring a bottle to NiagaraCool next year (the Saturday after Father's Day). I expect a BIG crowd to join us this time. There will be NO excuses for JB and Bob.

Congratulations Dan!!!!!!

Salute

I should first say that the medal was won in the Dessert Wine category; there is no separate category for Ice Wine in the NYS Fair competition. I wasn't clear about that when I told Howie. Also, I did not venture out on a cold winter night to pick grapes as required by the Ontario regulations for ice wine. No, taking a page from Lamont Beers, amateur winemaker extraordinaire, I used the freezer method in which juice is frozen solid for a few days and then the first 60% or so to thaw, the part very high in sugar, is used to make the wine. Beginning with 5 gallons of juice at 21.5 Brix from grapes sourced from Howie's friend Bruce Giles, the result was 3 gallons at about 28 Brix. Fermentation started right away. Although I tried stopping it at about 12 Brix the wine typically had its own ideas. The cold outdoors and a heavy dose of sulfite only slowed things down a bit. The resulting wine is about 5.5 RS which is far below conventional ice wine standards. The minimum in Ontario is 12.5 RS.

The color of Steuben can be anything from white to pink. Time sitting on the skins is just one factor and not necessarily the most important. This wine is a pale yellow. The first time I made Steuben it came out pink so I assumed that was the color of Steuben. The next year it turned out white. I called my supplier, Presque Isle, to ask what was wrong and they laughed. That's just Steuben. By the way, it's a delicious table grape too.

Dan!

Many congrats on this. I am delighted for you.

Having tasted your native grape wines I can honestly say that they are better than most commercial labruscas I've tasted.

Steuben icewine - cryogenic or not - is a novel idea, and I love the creativity in it.

Congrats, Dan..Hey, ya coulda worked outdoors..gets cold enough here in Siberacuse for that..
Way to go!!

Bravo Dan!