2009 James Cole "Jaden" Riesling Ice Wine Okanagan Valley (375ml) (Previously $65)

James Cole is a boutique vineyard and winery off Napa Valley's Silverado Trail run by husband and wife team James and Colleen Harder. Charles Hendricks is the consulting winemaker and famed viticulturalist Jim Regusci is active in the farming and management of the vineyards. You don't typically see Ice Wine from Riesling grown in the Okanagan Valley on the opposite side of the contintinent in the Napa Valley, but as James writes on his winery blog: "we offer our 'Jaden' icewine from Canada, which is where I was born and all my family still reside. In Canada, we refer to this juice as 'liquid gold' for several reasons; first, you are required to leave your lucious grapes hanging on the vine past harvest and into the cold Canada winter months so that you can pick them at their optimal prime - which by wine regulations for 'icewine', is minus 10 degrees celsius. Second, the wine-making process is intense as you are extracting the juice from frozen marble-like grapes which results in less juice but pure natural sweetness and perfect balance of acidity of this rare a delectable wine!" Fermented in Acacia oak barrels and aged eleven months on the less, "Jaden" is intense, concentrated, and complex, with aromas and flavors of sweet apricot, baked apple, and honey, lifted by floral notes, toffee, and baking spice. Its sweetness is balanced by bracing acidity, for a cleansing finish.