Everything about Ice Wine totally explained
Ice wine (or
icewine, as one word, or in
German,
Eiswein) is a type of
dessert wine produced from
grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The
sugars and other dissolved solids don't freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape
must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the
fermentation, not afterwards. Unlike the grapes from which other dessert wines, such as
Sauternes,
Tokaji, or
Trockenbeerenauslese, are made, ice wine grapes shouldn't be affected by
Botrytis cinerea or
noble rot. Only healthy grapes keep in good shape until the opportunity arises for an ice wine harvest, which can occur the following calendar year. This gives ice wine its characteristic refreshing sweetness balanced by high acidity. When the grapes are free of
Botrytis, they're said to come in "clean".
Due to the labour-intense and risky production process resulting in relatively small amounts of wine, ice wines are generally quite expensive.
Icewine producers
The most famous (and expensive) ice wines are
German Eiswein and
Canadian Icewine (where the name is written as one word), but ice wine is also made in
Australia,
Austria,
Croatia,
Czech Republic,
France,
Hungary,
Israel,
Italy,
Luxembourg New Zealand, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Sweden and
United States, at least in smaller quantity.
Eiswein is part of the
Prädikatswein quality category in the
German wine classification, and
Icewine in Canada must follow
VQA protocol to be labelled as such. The French language term
Vin de glace is part of the wine classification in Luxembourg, but not in France, but is sometimes found on the rare bottles of ice wine produced in
Alsace.
In contrast to most other wine-producing regions, Canada, particularly the
Niagara Peninsula, consistently undergoes freezing in winter and has become the world's largest ice wine producer. Icewine production in Canada is regulated by the
Vintners Quality Alliance in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. If sugar in the grapes measures less than 35
brix, then they can't be made into icewine. These are often downgraded to a lower designation, such as Special Select Late Harvest or Select Late Harvest.
Niagara-on-the-Lake's
Inniskillin
is traditionally considered the leading Icewine producer. It was the first Canadian winery to win a major international award with the prestigious Grand Prix d’Honneur at 1991 Vinexpo in France with their 1989 Icewine. This award put Canadian Icewines on the world stage. Many smaller New World wineries in the
Niagara Region have made their presence known with high quality products that have won awards around the world.
Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery's 2004 Riesling Icewine was recently acknowledged by
Jancis Robinson of the
Financial Times (London) and the
The Oxford Companion to Wine as one of Canada's 10 best wines. To add to the prestige factor, in November 2006, what has been claimed to be the most expensive bottle of ice wine to date was sold for 30,000
Canadian dollars by
Royal DeMaria, a small winery in
Beamsville that specializes in making icewine.
Production
Natural ice wines require a hard
freeze (by law in Canada a minimum of −8 °C (17 °F) and in Germany a minimum of −7 °C (19 °F)) to occur sometime after the grapes are
ripe, which means that the grapes may hang on the
vine for several months following the normal harvest. If a freeze doesn't come quickly enough, the grapes may rot and the crop will be lost. If the freeze is too severe, no juice can be extracted. Vineland Winery in Ontario once broke their pneumatic press in the 1990s while pressing the frozen grapes because they were too hard (the temperature was close to −20 °C). The longer the harvest is delayed, the more fruit will be lost to wild animals and dropped fruit. Since the fruit must be pressed while it's still frozen, pickers often must work at night or very early in the morning, harvesting the grapes within a few hours, while cellar workers must work in unheated spaces.
In Austria, Germany, and Canada, the grapes must freeze naturally to be called ice wine. In other countries, some winemakers use
cryoextraction (that is, mechanical freezing) to simulate the effect of a frost and typically don't leave the grapes to hang for extended periods as is done with natural ice wines. These non-traditional ice wines are sometimes referred to as "icebox wines". An example is
Bonny Doon's
Vin de Glacière.
The high sugar level in the
must leads to a slower-than-normal fermentation. It may take months to complete the fermentation (compared to days or weeks for regular wines) and special strains of yeasts should be used. Because of the lower yield of grape musts and the difficulty of processing, ice wines are significantly more expensive than
table wines. They are often sold in half-bottle volume (375 ml) or the even smaller 200ml bottle. New World wineries in particular sometimes bottle 200 ml and 50 ml gift packages.
Requirements
The minimum
must weight requirements for ice wine is as follows, in the measures used in the respective country:
Trade in ice wine
Of the Canadian production of Icewine, shipments to the US accounted for 8 million worth of wine in 2005.
Grape varieties
Typical grapes used for ice wine production are
Riesling, considered to be the most noble variety by German winemakers;
Vidal, highly popular in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada; and, interestingly, the red grape
Cabernet Franc. Many vintners, especially from the New World, are experimenting with making ice wine from other varieties: whites such as
Seyval Blanc,
Chardonnay,
Kerner,
Gewürztraminer,
Chenin Blanc,
Pinot Blanc, and
Ehrenfelser; or reds such as
Merlot,
Pinot Noir, and even
Cabernet Sauvignon. Pillitteri Estates Winery from the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario recently claimed to be the first winery in the world producing
Shiraz (Syrah) ice wine.
Ice wines from white varieties tend to be pale yellow or light gold in color when they're young and can
maderise (acquiring a deep amber-golden color) as they age. The red varieties tend to have a light burgundy or even pink color like that of rosé wines.
Some vintners in Canada have taken a step forward in experimenting with sparkling ice wine. Sparkling ice wines have texture similar to other
sparkling wines, such as
champagne or
Asti, but with fuller body, and a significantly higher sugar level balanced with high acidity.
Characteristics
Even though it's normal for residual sugar content in ice wine to run from 180 g/L up to as high as 320 g/L (with a mean in the 220 g/L range), ice wine is very refreshing (as opposed to cloying) due to high acidity. (The titratable acidity in ice wine is almost always above 10 g/L.) Ice wine usually has a medium to full body, with a long lingering finish. The nose is usually reminiscent of peach, pear, dried apricot, honey, citrus, figs, caramel, green apple, etc., depending on the varietal. The aroma of tropical and exotic fruits such as pineapple, mango, or
lychee is quite common, especially on white varietals.
Ice wine usually has a slightly lower alcohol content than regular table wine. Some Riesling ice wines from Germany have an alcohol content as low as 6%. Ice wines produced in Canada usually have higher alcohol content, between eight and 13 percent. In most years, ice wines from Canada generally have higher
brix degree (
must weight) compared to those from Germany. This is largely due to the more consistent winters in Canada. Must with insufficient brix level can't be made into ice wine, and is thus often sold as "special select late harvest" or "select late harvest" at a fraction of the price that true ice wine commands.
Connoisseurs argue about whether ice wine improves with age or is meant to be drunk young. Those who support aging claim that ice wine's very high sugar level (which is often much higher than that of
Sauternes) and high acidity preserve the content for many years after bottling. Those who disagree contend that as ice wine ages it loses its distinctive acidity, fruitiness, aroma, and freshness.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ice Wine'.
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