In the overcrowded world of icewine you’ve got to do something to make yourself stand out, especially if you’re a new winery. So Cattail decided to barrel ferment theirs – but not in just any barrel, a French oak mixed stave barrel (a barrel made of oak sourced from various forests in France) … now that is different. After fermentation, the wine was returned to barrel for further aging and to develop other flavours from its wood home (totaling about 3 months). So what, pray-tell, has this experiment wrought: a luscious note of caramelized peaches and apricots with vanilla and cinnamon notes; the taste is luxurious with caramel apple, candied dried fruit, a touch of apricot along with vanilla and toffee mixed in. The wine is thick, mouth-coating and incredibly succulent.