{"id":20363,"date":"2021-01-28T00:01:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T00:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/?p=20363"},"modified":"2021-01-28T00:01:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T00:01:37","slug":"ice-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/2021\/01\/28\/ice-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Wine – What Exactly Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Icewine<\/strong> also called Eiswein is a cold climate sweet wine that was originally produced in Austria and Germany. More recently, China and Canada are also producing it. As its name suggests, the wine can be produced only in cold climates and is made with grapes frozen while still on their vines. Unlike water, the sugars in the grapes do not freeze.<\/p>\n

So, while the fruit are frozen, it still becomes possible to concentrate their flavours at the point of harvest. Fortunately, noble rot does not affect these wines and their high acidity levels are well balanced with a distinctive refreshing sweetness.<\/p>\n

The Ice wine Production Process<\/h2>\n

The grape while frozen is pressed through a special machine which results in smaller amounts of concentrated, sweet wine. This process from harvesting to pressing can take approximately size hours and needs to be done only under the right weather conditions, making it a risky process. Sometimes, the grapes don\u2019t freeze at all which means no ice wine can be produced in that particular year.<\/p>\n

The stems and seeds are removed from the juice before fermentation<\/a>. Sometimes, it takes several months of fermentation because the fruit has high sugar levels. These wines can be aged for several years. Some ice wine producers use an artificial method (cryoextraction) to freeze their grapes. However, this process is permitted only in countries without any production regulations in place and ones that don\u2019t typically produce ice wine.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, any variety of grape can be used to make icewine<\/strong>. German winemakers are partial to Riesling while Cabernet Franc and Vidal are popular varieties in Ontario, Canada. Some producers also experiment with grapes like Merlot<\/a> and Chenin Blanc. Ones made from white grapes are generally light gold or pale yellow when they are young and tend to deepen with age. When red grapes are used in making icewine the resultant liquid is light pink.<\/p>\n

Why Is Icewine So Pricey?<\/h2>\n

There are several reasons for the high cost of this wine, such as:<\/p>\n