“An Ice Wine Christmas” is entertaining and maybe not best holiday romance story but I give it a thumbs up for a holiday film that with a different storyline compared to many holiday films out there.
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TITLE: An Ice Wine Christmas
FILM YEAR: 2021
DURATION: 97 Minutes
CHANNEL: Lifetime
Directed by Jill Carter
Story by Claire Ross Dunn
Teleplay: Kelly Fullerton
Producer: Cary Davies
Executive Producers: Sherri Rufh, Charles Tremayne, Jeff Vanderwal, Danielle von Zerneck
Music: Michael Richard Plowman
Cinematography: Charles Lavack
Production Design by Sean Moore
Art Direction by Richelle Wilks
Costume Design by Kristin Somborac
Starring:
Roselyn Sanchez as Camila Ruiz
Lyriq Bent as Declan Monroe
AnnaMaria Demara as Beth
Megha Sandhu as Norma
Nck Name as Jerry
Juan Chioran as Roberto
Richard Fitzpatrick as Henry Childress
Maria Demara as Beth
Patrick Kwok-Choon as Gabriel
Virginia Kelly as Eileen
Neil Whitely as Ned
For day 12, I am watching the holiday film “An Ice Wine Christmas” directed by Jill Carter (“Astrid and Lilly Save the World”, “The Murders”, “The Bold Type”) and a story by Claire Ross Dunn and teleplay by Kelly Fullerton.
The holiday film stars Roselyn Sanchez (“Rush Hour 2”, “Without a Trace”, “The Game”), Lyriq Bent (“The Book of Negroes”, “She Gotta Have It”), AnnaMaria Demara (“Lost in Space”, “Lucifer”), Patrick Kwok-Choon (“Star Trek: Discovery”, “Open Heart”), Maria del Mar (“24”, “Blue Murder”), Richard Fitzpatrick (“Good Will Hunting”, “The Recruit”) and more.
As the title suggests, the film depends on “Ice wine”, which is a dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and dissolved solids do not freeze, and because of this, a more concentrated grape juice develops from it.
The film stars Roselyn Sanchez as Camila Ruiz, a sommelier who knows her wine, especially ice wine which comes from her hometown in New York for the annual Ice Wine Harvest. Every winter, she goes home to take part in the holidays festivities and to visit the vineyard owned by Henry Childress (portrayed by Richard Fitzpatrick) who is known for producing the ice wine.
She meets Declan Monroe (portrayed by Lyriq Bent), who is hired on a contract job by Beth (portrayed by AnnaMaria Demara), Roselyn’s sister, who is running operations at the vineyard. Declan is an oenologist and supervises wine production, storage and analysis. And Beth hopes to maximize the Ice Wine Harvest by hiring an outsider, which turns Roselyn off, who prefers to keep things to family and local.
For Roselyn, she is a true believer in Ice Wine and that the frost will come to make the wine (you only get a short window of six hours). But her younger sister Beth is strict on business and can’t have people working with no definite proof there will be a frost.
So as many dismiss that there will be a frost, Roselyn holds on to hope. Meanwhile, working with Declan, the two start to have feelings towards each other.
For the most part, this is quite a unique Christmas story. I’ve watched numerous holiday films about wine during the holidays but this one is interesting because it centers on Ice Wine and the hopes and dreams of a vineyard. As opposed to a vineyard that is losing money or about to go bust. This is a different type of story that in someways, may attract wine lovers. Because heck, after watching this, now I’m interested in wanting to partake in some ice wine.
But nevertheless, because it’s so different, and something I wasn’t expecting (because a lot of holiday films are quite banal), it’s always interesting when you come upon a storyline that is fresh and new for the holiday season.
“An Ice Wine Christmas” is entertaining and maybe not best holiday romance story but I give it a thumbs up for a holiday film that with a different storyline compared to many holiday films out there.
