Ice Wine - Frozen Ambrosia!

Ice wine or Eiswein (in German) is a dessert wine which is made using grapes which had been left on the vine to freeze. The intention behind freezing the grapes is that the sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water in the berry does, which concentrates the juice. Ice wine production is limited to the world's wine-growing regions where the necessary cold temperatures can be achieved every harvest. Such regions include some parts of Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Italy and Canada. Canada is the largest producer for Ice Wine in the world, followed by Germany.

@St Hubertus Vineyard, Okanagan Valley in Winter.

Naturally produced ice wines require a temperature of −8 °C (18 °F) (by law in Canada) and −7 °C (19 °F) (in Germany) or cooler. While making ice wine the grapes need to be frozen while being pressed, this results in a small amount of concentrated, very sweet wine. To achieve the desired temperatures the harvest usually takes place in the cold hours of dawn. Unlike other dessert wines like Sauternes or Tokaji, Ice wine grapes should not be affected by Botrytis cinerea or noble rot, but a slight proportion is allowed. 

Production of Ice Wine has more cons than pros: 

• As mentioned earlier the grapes need to be frozen, if the temperatures do not drop in time the grapes may rot and the crop will be lost. 
• Also if the temperatures drop too low the freeze will be too hard and no juice can be extracted. The longer the wait for harvest, the more berries will be lost to wild animals and dropped fruit. 
• Due to the high sugar levels in the must Ice Wines tend to ferment slower-than-normal and at times take months to complete the fermentation. 
• Ice wine production also requires a significant labour force to pick the whole crop within a few hours, at the right time, on the first morning that is cold enough.

All these factors result in very scanty amounts of Ice Wine being produced worldwide, making Ice Wines expensive.

@Frozen Grapes for Ice Wine Production.

Ice Wines have been in production since Roman times; a prime example of the style would be the wines coming from Chiomonte in the Val di Susa; a town popular in Roman times and even today produces one of Italy's few ice wines. As documentation suggests one of the first Eiswein made in Germany was in Dromersheim close to Bingen in Rheinhessen on February 11, 1830. It so happened that the grapes for the 1829 vintage were left hanging on the vine by the winegrowers to be used as animal fodder as the winter was too harsh to harvest. It was then noticed that these frozen grapes had a very sweet must and thus Ice Wine was produced. The first Eiswein produced at Schloss Johannisberg is documented to be in the year 1858.

Ice Wine in Canada was first produced in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia by a German immigrant Walter Hainle in 1972 by accident because of an early and unexpected frost. Canada first commercially produced Ice Wine in the year 1984.  It was produced by an Austrian born winemaker named Karl Kaiser and the winery he worked for was the Niagara based Inniskillin. They were able to produce the Ice Wine by protecting the vines throughout the extended period from hungry birds using nets.  A lesson which they learned from their previous attempt to make Ice Wine in 1983 in which they lost their entire crop to the birds. The grape Vidal was used to make Inniskillin's first ice wine.

@Dr. Loosen, Riesling Eiswein, Mosel Germany.

In Germany Riesling is considered to be the best varietal to produce Eiswein. In Canada Vidal and the red grape Cabernet Franc are widely used. Pillitteri Estates Winery from the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario is also producing award-winning Ice Wines using Shiraz (Syrah) with the 2004 vintage, Semillion, and Sangiovese in 2007. 

Ice Wines made from white grapes tend to be pale yellow or light gold when they are young and can maderise (acquiring a deep amber-golden hue) as they age. The ones made from red grapes tend to have a light burgundy or even pink colour like that of rosé wines as they do have some skin contact. Ice Wines have residual sugars ranging from 180 g/L up to as high as 320 g/L. Even with such high sugar content, the wine is refreshing due to its high acidity. Ice Wines are luscious, profoundly flavoured, with aromas and flavours of exotic fruits such as lychee and ripe pineapple when made with white grapes, although wines made with red varieties can produce more intense strawberry flavours.

@Inniskillin, Vidal Icewine, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.

Ice Wines are often sold in half-bottle volume i.e 375 ml or the even smaller 200ml bottle. New World wineries in particular sometimes bottle 200 ml and 50 ml gift packages.

Here are Ice Wine labels to look out for:

• Inniskillin, Vidal Icewine, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
• Peller Estates, Signature Series, Vidal Blanc Icewine, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
• Weingut Donnhoff, Oberhauser Brucke, Riesling Eiswein, Nahe, Germany.
• Dr. Loosen, Riesling Eiswein, Mosel Germany.
• Weingut Markus Huber, Berg Riesling Eiswein, Traisental, Austria

Article by – Kevin Rodrigues, Certified Sommelier.