20 December 2007 by Sandy Hemphill
Ice Wine – Nectar of the North
Depending upon how close to the equator you are when you’re enjoying a glass of wine, the term “ice wine” can mean different things.
If you are close to the equator, your idea of ice wine may be a large tumbler full of ice cubes topped with chilled Merlot. This concoction may be a matter of survival but it’s light years away from the true ice wine – a sinfully sweet, aromatic, but perfectly balanced version of the highest quality wine that can be produced in only the coldest regions of the world.
Canada, Germany and Austria are the world’s leading producers of this delicious nectar of the north. Grape varietals familiar elsewhere are used for this refreshing wine but they are harvested and processed differently than grapes grown in warmer climates.
In Canada, particularly British Columbia and Ontario, Vidal is the white grape of choice. In Europe, where ice wine is called eiswein, Riesling is most often used. Cabernet Franc produces a pleasantly pink red ice wine. Experiments using other varietals never cease.
Regardless of location or varietals, the trick is in the harvesting.
The longer the grape stays on the vine, the riper – sweeter – it becomes. Most grapes are harvested at the end of the summer or early autumn, before the unpredictable ravages of approaching winter weather and foraging animals destroy the crop.
Ice wine is made from grapes left on the vine, unharvested and continuing to ripen, until exposed to a winter freeze so harsh it freezes the grapes solid, still on the vine. The intense blast of frigid air causes the water in the grape juice to evaporate immediately, leaving only the super-ripened grape solids and sugars behind.
This intense blast of cold air is so instrumental to the production of ice wine that there are laws that set the accepted temperature levels. In Canada, temperatures must reach -8º C (17º F) to label the wine as ice wine. German ice wines must see -7º C (19º F) to become eiswein.
Grapes left on the vine in warmer areas will most likely succumb to foraging animals or drop due to rot, mold, and ugly but not appropriately extreme weather conditions before temperatures drop to optimum, freezing, levels. In many winemaking regions, temperatures rarely ever drop this low.
Ice wine grapes must be pressed while they are still frozen. To ensure properly frozen fruit, pickers work at night or in the wee hours of the chilly mornings. Winery workers in unheated cellars begin processing immediately, using pneumatic presses to extract the cold-concentrated frozen juice from the grapes.
The very high sugar content of the must (crushed grape juice, seeds, skins, and stems) inhibits fermentation. Special strains of yeast are used but the process takes months instead of weeks to achieve an acceptable alcohol content, which is generally lower than that of table wines.
Ice wines are medium- to full-bodied with a high acid content that beautifully balances the abundance of residual sugars in the wine. The finish is long, languishing luxuriously on the palate.
The bouquet is alive with the aromas of perfectly ripened fruit – peach, apricot, figs, even tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango. Hints of honey, raisins, and caramel are present.
Leaving a cash crop on the vine until a hard freeze occurs is an agricultural gamble. Most producers of ice wine harvest the bulk of their crops earlier and make less risky tables wines with them.
Grapes reserved for ice wine production usually represent a very small percentage of an annual harvest and pose a financial risk until harvested. The harvest is so small, in fact, that all ice wines are considerably more expensive than even the best table wines.
To offset the expense and to allow for more widespread distribution, ice wines are sold in bottles smaller than the norm. Ice wines are most often found in bottles of only 375 or 200 ml as opposed to the 750 ml standard wine bottle. Some ice wine gift packages feature tiny 50 ml bottles.
The word brix defines a measurement of the sugars present in a substance, in this case the grapes and must. The higher the brix level, the sweeter the wine.
Canadian ice wines usually measure a higher brix level than European eisweins because Canadian winters are more predictable. Sometimes European winter blasts come before the sugars in the grape have fully developed.
When grapes left on the vine until that ever-so-important hard freeze arrives do not meet the brix standard required of ice wine, the wine produced is labeled select, or special select, late harvest.
When someone offers a glass of ice wine, please don’t run to the icemaker for a handful of cubes. Instead, enjoy this treasured elixir, this nectar of the north, for exactly what it is – a rare and fleeting glimpse of the perfect blend of luscious summer fruit kissed with cool, refreshing, winter snows.