Ice wine

Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. They are one of the rarest forms of wine, produced especially in the Pacific Northwest region.

A grape that is required to prepare ice wine is rare. Only high quality grapes are used that they are ripened fully and 5 °C temperature.

It is necessary that the temperature be maintained at 5 °C for a couple of days. At this temperature, grapes will be frozen. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does. The resultant must is concentrated in sugar, acids and aroma and flavor compounds, giving the wine its rich, balanced and intense flavor profile.

In the case of the ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards. Ice wine is made from at least a dozen different grapes including red grapes like Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The most widely used variety is Vidal.

Ice wine is produced in many countries around the world at the northern limits of grape growing where winter conditions are cold enough to allow the grapes to freeze on the vine before harvest.

The most famous and expensive ice wines are German Eiswein and Canadian ice wine.
Ice wine