World's first sparkling Ice Wine?

Many will be familiar with the wonderful sweet Ice Wine which is produced in parts of Central Europe. Now, there's a new Ice Wine - a Slovenian winemaker says he has successfully created the world's first sparkling ice wine.

Stanko Curin, from the small town of Kog in the wine region of Styria, recently announced that he had successfully made the first ever sparkling ice wine. The wine contains over 200 grams of sugar and an alcoholic content of 10%, which allows for unique results during fermentation. We recently talked to Mr Curin, who admits he first had doubts about his new creation:

"In the beginning I wasn't very optimistic, especially because it initially looked like the specific measurements would be too high, and this made me sceptical to the point that I thought the project would fail. But everything turned out okay in the end."

Trying the wine led to interesting results:

"When I tried the first drops, I noticed that every bottle tasted noticeably different, depending on the effect of the yeast. For my tastes, though, the wine is really something special.

"Ice wine is made using frozen grapes, and is usually very sweet. They are usually enjoyed as so-called "dessert wines."

Four hundred bottles have been made of Curin's sparkling ice wine. Each bottle contains two and a half decilitres of wine, and will sell for roughly 40 euros a bottle. Thanks to their uniqueness, they are expected to disappear very quickly.

Marta Bombek, head of the wine store "Vinski Ambient Bombek" which premiered the wine, describes her delight at being part of the historical moment.

"This was the triumph of my long-term efforts in the world of wine. It was a high point, because we managed to introduce a brand new wine to the world. For the first time, we tasted a sparkling ice wine, and we did it among family and friends and with journalists who are knowledgeable about wines. It was also a special event because Mr Curin was also with us, the creator of this project."

According to Stanko Curin, the sparkling ice wine needs to sit for five years, but will only show its true flavour after a period of ten years. Those eager to try it will therefore have to be patient for just a little bit longer.