Back in December, I made mention of the rise of sparkling wine making in Ontario (Newsletter #72) … well not to be outdone, Peller has re-invented their flagship sparkler. For years, they have made the unique sparkling Ice Cuvee – a bubbly that replaces the still wine dosage with ice wine. But over the past few years, the wine has been losing its luster – someone told me it was because Peller reduced the amount of icewine they used in the dosage. Well this rosé has goosed the tired old Ice Cuvee up to a new level. I think the icewine level has been brought back to its original level because its influence is all over this wine. The nose is strawberries, cotton candy, apricot and honey. The red fruit flavours and smells come from the Cabernet Franc, which is added to the mix. Speaking of flavours, this one has a wow-mouth-factor that includes: honeyed strawberries and a lengthy lingering red fruit finish. It smells sweeter than it tastes and that’s because of those persistent bubbles, which manages to tone things down. This is the old Ice Cuvee with a twist … the addition of the Franc for fruitiness and the re-emergence of an icewne dosage you can taste … I’d say they’ve cranked this one up to 11. Kudos to Peller for seeing the need to jazz-up the old and making it new again.