KEVIN WALSH; GLENN CALLAHAN, CALLAHAN
TIDBITS
It’s often said that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. At Boyden Valley Winery in Cambridge, the corollary to that is if life gives you ice, make ice wine. Called “nectar of the gods” by some because of its exceptionally sweet flavor and price tag, ice wine has become one of Boyden Valley Winery’s signature wine products. Developed in Germany in the late 1700s, ice wine was first produced in America in the early 1980s in upstate New York. Boyden Valley Winery sold its first bottle in 2005 and was the first winery in Vermont to make a red ice wine, and the first to produce an ice wine from Frontenac grapes. Ice wines are best enjoyed before dinner or with dessert. It is intensely sweet due to a combination of frozen grapes and the production process. It’s a delicate process fraught with environmental risks and production challenges. All of this means the wine yield per acre of grapevine is very low, resulting in a much higher cost per bottle. Boyden Valley, a fourth generation farm, has operated as a winery for 18 years. Owned by the husband-and-wife team David and Linda Boyden, the winery’s ice wine sales are a sizeable portion of the winery’s total sales volume, says David. He and employee Tom Lambert are Boyden’s wine makers, each hav-
ing received special training in the art. The Boyden Winery has about 10,000 vines spread over 8 acres of land in the Lamoille River valley. To make ice wine, frozen grapes must be quickly processed once picked. This initial process produces a thick juice, or must, from which the wine is made. Because ice wine grapes stay on the vine much longer, more can go wrong. Some grapes rot on the vine, while others are eaten by birds and other creatures. David estimates that only about 10 percent of each acre of ice wine grapes actually makes it into the wine. Harvest day usually falls in late November or early December, whenever temperatures drop to 18 to 25 degrees and create the first heavy frost of the season. For true ice wine, federal law requires that the grapes must be frozen on the vine, not after being picked. On harvest day all available hands gather to pick the grapes, which must be processed within several hours. The gatherers often start around 2 a.m., wearing headlamps to see the grapes in the darkness. Time is of the essence since the grapes lose their special qualities if they start thawing before being pressed. In the basement of the renovated 1875 carriage barn where the production process occurs, the grapes are first pressed to eliminate water. David says his winery’s press process is
HANNAH MARSHALL
ICE WINE
Beef pad kee mao.
172
Ocha Thai restaurant is bringing spicy back to Waterbury, in a small and welcoming orchidhued dining room next to Shaw’s supermarket. The dinner menu features Thai stir-fries and curries, noodles and fried rice, rolls and dumplings, soups, salads, and desserts—more than 80 items—plus specials, which on one recent week included whole fried red snapper, mango and shrimp stir-fry, and roasted duck curry. Dishes can be ordered in varying degrees of spiciness. Extra hot is not for the faint of heart; don’t be offended if the server questions your fortitude. Our papaya salad—ordered hot—was indeed
You don’t have to go over the mountain anymore for a taste of Boyden. Boyden Valley Winery’s award-winning wines, Vermont ice wines, hard ciders, and cream liqueurs can now be tasted at the winery’s new tasting room in the Apple Core Luncheonette at Cold Hollow Cider Mill on Route 100 in the village of Waterbury Center.
an important factor that separates his ice wines from many others. Boyden Valley Winery’s large hydraulic presses exert more force than normal winery presses to eliminate more moisture, leaving a thicker and more concentrated must. Because this must has high glucose content, the ice wine it produces is sweeter. Due to the fermentation and clarification processes, it takes nine to twelve months after harvest before any wine can be made. Boyden Valley makes three ice wines: Vermont Ice, Vermont Ice Red, and Vermont Ice Cider (made from apples). Additional ice label products include an ice apple crème liqueur and a maple crème liqueur. So, even though Vermont’s climate may lack the qualities of those found in the wine regions of France or Italy, there is a benefit to cold weather. To paraphrase Boyden Valley Winery’s ice wine promotion: People come to Vermont for the snow, but once here, they fall in love with the ice. —Kevin Walsh ESSENTIALS: boydenvalley.com. spicy, with a generous sprinkling of chili flakes, but the slightly sweet and vinegary dressing tempered the heat, and crunchy julienned papaya and carrots, green beans, romaine lettuce, cabbage, and peanuts made for a fresh and satisfying dish. The green curry with chicken was rich with coconut milk and bright basil flavor, with bamboo-shoot matchsticks, chunks of smooth eggplant, and bell pepper. —Hannah Marshall ESSENTIALS: 1024 Waterbury-Stowe Rd., Waterbury. (802) 882-8275.