It is that time of year again! The weather conditions are finally perfect for harvesting Icewine grapes here in the Niagara Peninsula.One might assume that Icewine is an innovation that was founded here in Canada. Canada is well known for it's ice and snow, right? Although Canadian wineries are becoming more and more recognized for the production of Icewine on a global scale, the founding fathers of Icewine are actually those from the cool climate viticulture regions of Europe, Germany and Austria. Icewine was initially founded in the late 1700's in Germany.
The tradition of producing Icewine made its way to Ontario in the early 1980's and to this day is one of Ontario's most precious gifts of winter.
Icewine is made from grapes that have been left to naturally freeze on the vine. These grapes are generally left on the vine until December or January.
Due to the winter weather conditions, the grapes left on the vine become dehydrated, thus concentrating the sugars within the grape. Under VQA regulation it must be at least -8 to -10 degrees Celsius to initiate your Icewine harvest. Some wineries use mechanical means of harvesting the grapes, and some harvest by hand. Here at the Teaching Winery, the students will harvest the Icewine grapes by hand as a part of their learning experiences. Harvest could take place in the day, but generally will occur at night when the temperature is at its coldest, and there is no risk of the grapes thawing out.
At the point of harvest, the water within the grapes is frozen solid, which allows it to seperate from the sugars and acids in the grape. There is little, to no water (from the grape) that is used for Icewine. When the grapes are harvested, they are immediately pressed.
Since the water is frozen solid, all that is pressed out of the grapes is the sweet concentrated nectar (sugars, acids). Very little juice comes out of each grape. The yield for Icewine is only about 5%-10% compared to grapes used for table wine. Therefore if a section of vineyard yielded 100 litres for table wine, the same section of vineyard would yield only 10 litres if made into Icewine.
Icewine is a sweeter style wine with very concentrated aromas and flavours. Icewine can be made from a variety of different grape varietals. Here at the Teaching Winery we currently have our 2008 Cabernet Franc Icewine on the shelf. It has beautiful aromas of honey and strawberry jam, and follows with a very similar palate. This wine pairs very well with a piece of dark chocolate!
Stay tuned for our "Icewine Harvest" Blog to come shortly! Once the students return from winter vacation, and it gets cold enough, we will begin the Icewine harvest!
Cheers
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