![]() ![]() The natural freezing process dehydrates the fruit and concentrates the sugars and acids in the fruit, creating great complexity and flavors. According to Wines of Canada, the incredible process will yield one glass of ice wine per vine compared to one bottle of wine per vine in a regular harvest. This is a huge endeavor for such small quantities of wine, thereby also increasing the expense of the wine. ![]() The aforementioned problems are also the reason why ice wine is an expensive wine. Once hard freeze is attained, producers may only have hours to harvest the grapes and get them pressed. All grapes must be handled gently and harvested by human hand, not machinery. The fruit must be pressed while frozen so pickers may have to work at night or in the wee hours of the morning to get the fruit off the vine. If the freeze is too hard, the grapes cannot be pressed because there will be no juice. One may ask what exactly is an ice wine. Two grape varieties in Canada are the predominate grapes used for ice wine and includes Vidal or Vidal Blanc, a French/American Hybrid and Riesling. These grapes are left on the vine long after the regular harvest is over while awaiting a hard freeze. I just can’t imagine as a wine maker having to watch grapes sit on the vine at the mercy of the weather, possible rot and mold attacking the grapes and common predators such as birds, raccoons and other critters wanting an easy lunch waiting for those grapes to freeze on the vine naturally. ![]() Canada is probably better known for fishing, hunting and hockey than for wine production. Having fewer planted acres in the entire country than Napa Valley alone, it is a small industry compared to many New World wine producing areas. However, Canada produces more ice wine than any other country in the world and the lovely ice wine it produces has given Canada an international reputation as a serious wine producer. ![]()
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