Icewine is a great dessert wine or apéritif. Here are some alternatives …
SAUTERNES and TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE
As you know, icewine is made from grapes that have hung on vine far beyond normal harvest time and have become very dry (and frozen).
Other Dessert Wines
A similar type of wine, that also shares the characteristic of highly concentrated flavors, is a “late harvest” wine. Two very nice examples are: SAUTERNES (from France), and TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE (from Austria and Germany). The name literally means “dried berry selection.” Both of these sweet wines are complex, interesting, fun, and aristocratic.
Chateau la Tour Blanche produces both table wines and late harvest. Their late harvest is a great sweet Sauternes to try. Historic, aristocratic, and a true “find.”
Kracher of Austria is my pick as one of the best of Austria’s Neusiedlersee sweet wines. Kracher produce a range of wines, including Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Not easy to find, but worth the effort!
The Wine Baron 