Ice wine how is it made

This waiting also results in scarcity of fruit, resulting in limited quantities of ice wine, which often causes it to be quite expensive. What causes ice wine to be so sweet is the act of freezing in the first place. When the grapes freeze, the sugars and dissolved solids do not, while the water inside does, resulting in an extremely concentrated and sugary liquid that emerges when the grapes are ultimately pressed. This act of freezing the grapes in order to extract the sweet juice of course begs the question of why the vintners leave the fruit on the vine, waiting for the first frost, instead of picking ice wine grapes at the same time of harvest as every other grape, and then simply throwing them in a freezer to achieve the same results.

In preparation for Icewine season, the grape vines are netted in the autumn when the grapes are ripening to protect them from being devoured by birds. In November, the grapes must be registered with VQA Ontario inspectors and the grape variety, acreage and estimated tonnage is verified. The grapes are then left on the vine until a sustained temperature of minus 8 degrees Celsius or lower is reached. Depending on the season, this could happen anytime from December to February.

During the time between the end of the growing season and harvest, the grapes dehydrate and the juices are concentrated and develop the characteristic complexity of Icewine. Typically, a period of at least 6 hours is needed to harvest and press the grapes — and it is usually an overnight job.

Most small and medium sized wineries harvest by hand, often with volunteers who are enthusiastic Icewine lovers and want to experience the harvest first hand. Warm clothing is required.

Mechanized harvesting has been developed very recently and is now an option for larger vineyards. Once the grapes are harvested, they are pressed in small hydraulic presses under much higher pressure than normal for grapes harvested in the regular season. Because the grapes are frozen, most of the mass is water, and is left behind as ice in the press.

Only a small amount of concentrated juice is extracted. This reflects both the losses in grape volume from dehydration while the grapes hang and losses to hungry birds and other animals. Icewine is one of the latest-harvesting of all, and although higher average annual temperatures have affected yields in traditional production regions like Germany and Canada, new countries like China now have the opportunity to make their own varieties and cash in on a very premium product.

Ice wine or Eiswein in German is a type of dessert wine that can only be produced in cold climates. Although we know that ice wine was being made in ancient Rome, the first modern example comes from Franconia in Germany, in The whole process from harvest to press can take around six hours, and must only be done when the weather conditions are right, so it can be risky in some years, the grapes might not freeze at all.

Sometimes harvests might not happen until after the new year. The juice is then separated from the seeds and stems before fermentation begins. Although in theory you can make icewine from anything, typical grapes used include Riesling, considered to be the noblest variety by German winemakers; Vidal, which is popular in Ontario, Canada; and Cabernet Franc. Some producers are experimenting with other grapes like Chenin Blanc and Merlot.

Those made from white grapes are usually pale yellow or light gold in colour when they are young and deepen with age, or pink when made with red grapes. A combination of risk, labour-intensive winemaking and government regulations make it difficult to find a cheap icewine. In some years, the frost may not come at all before the grapes rot or are otherwise lost.

In fact, German producers are making less icewine now than they were in the 90s and 80s thanks to rising annual temperatures linked to climate change. This means its production is limited to a handful of countries where temperatures consistently drop below freezing over the winter.

Freezing the grapes also creates a naturally lower yield, so there is less wine in circulation overall, making it rarer and more valuable. As well as this some countries, such as Austria, Germany, the United States, and Canada, require that the grapes have to be frozen naturally, so cost-saving artificial processes have to be ruled out.