Magnotta - Canadian Ice Wine Importers | Total Beverage Solution

Magnotta Winery Corporation is Ontario’s third largest winery. Magnotta develops, grows, produces, imports, exports and retails wines, beer, spirits and “must” (juice for making wine) primarily through its seven locations in Ontario, Canada.

Magnotta is also Canada’s most award winning winer. In fact, Magnotta brands itself as “The Award Winning Winery.” Many of these awards include gold medals from prestigious wine competitions from all over the world such as VinExpo (France) and VinItaly (Italy). Magnotta is the first and only Canadian winery to have ever won four Black Diamond Trophies from Intervin International (United States) for Winery Consistency and Quality. This is awarded at the Intervin International competition to the winery with the most gold medals at the year’s competition.

Magnotta produces wines from grapes grown on its four vineyards totaling 180 acres in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula and on its 351-acre vineyard in Chile’s Maipo Valley. Grapes grown on its 180 acre Ontario vineyards are entirely processed and vinified for the company’s own use

Naturally frozen on the vine, grapes are hand-picked when the temperature falls below -8 to -10 degrees Celsius. The frozen grapes are crushed immediately, releasing a tiny amount of concentrated sweet nectar which is slowly fermented over several months.

Ice wine, or Eiswein, originated in Franconia, Germany in 1794. The process was refined, and now ice wines are highly prized drinks that are created in Germany, Austria, and Canada. Canada is currently the most widely respected producer of ice wines.

Canadian ice wine, properly created, must follow VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) regulations to ensure a quality product. Key amongst these rules is that the wine must be naturally produced - no artificial freezing allowed. This makes ice wine very difficult to create - grapes must be guarded against too extreme temperatures, and because they are the last grapes on the vines, they must be defended vigorously against birds and other animals.

As in all harvests, the exact moment of harvest is extremely important for ice wine. Ideally the temperature should get to -10°C to -13°C before picking. This provides the optimum level of sugar and flavor in the grapes.

When the grapes are just right, they're carefully picked by hand. Grapes in this condition have a very low yield - often an entire vine only makes a single bottle. That's why ice wine can be so expensive and is often sold in half-bottles only ... but it's worth it!

Magnotta in the News

Magnotta Vidal Ice Wine Wins Gold

2008 International Wine Competition

Review of Magnotta Vidal Icevine Limited Edition 2005 (PDF)

YELLOW MAGAZINE - SEPT 2007
An extremely rare wine most often associated with Germany, produced only when the grapes are mature and a natural freeze occurs. The fruit is picked and crushed while still frozen. The resulting nectar is extremely fresh, clean and concentrated. This offering from Canada presents a nose of tropical fruits and flavors of peaches, apricots and fresh papaya in a rich, somewhat thick, delicious body of delicate sweetness. It is wonderful by itself or served with spicy foods. Try it with Wasabi green peas or with Lychee nuts.