"The resulting juice is highly concentrated and rich," the winemaker says, with Ice Wine yields being about 10-15% of an average table wine harvest. He points out that following harvest, the grapes are "pressed in the extreme cold to extract the precious fruit nectar." During this process, the water content of the grapes, which is about 80%, remains frozen as ice crystals, which remain inside the grapes, where they puncture the skin for added flavors. "Making Ice Wine is winemaking in the extreme!," says Nicholson. "The red berry characteristics of the Cabernet Franc grape translate into luscious strawberry-esque aromas and flavors in the bottle." He has also made Ice Wine from Chardonnay and even Cabernet Sauvignon.Īs you might imagine, producing a wine from frozen grapes is not easy. "Cabernet Franc Ice Wine is completely different than the white Ice Wines," Nicholson remarks. Along with white varieties Riesling - "its tropical and citrus aromas and flavor offer an elegance" - and Vidal Blanc with its good natural acidity, he also crafts Ice Wine from Cabernet Franc, a red variety. Nicholson has been producing Ice Wine since 1995 that was in the Okanagan district in western Canada, while his first Ontario Ice Wine (eastern Canada) was from 2006. it's a high risk decision."īruce Nicholson, winemaker at Inniskillin Photo courtesy Inniskillin Vineyards Once you dedicate vines for Ice Wine production, and time passes.you can't go back and change your mind. Last year, I made the call to harvest on a very narrow window and it is a good thing I did as a warm weather hit just after that and would have lost the entire crop. This typically happens in late December or early January." For 2019, the harvest for Casa Larga took place on a recent January morning, starting at 3 AM.Ĭassavaugh explains that Ice Wine is a much thicker, sweeter wine than table wine, and that the concentrated flavors come from "the special process of harvesting and pressing the grapes while they are frozen, taking most of the water out of the equation." He notes that his team has to cover the vines with nets, to keep birds away from eating the grapes additionally, he has to choose a very small window in which to harvest." Choosing that harvest window is also very tricky and often that harvest window happens with only 24-48 hours’ notice for those helping with harvest. "Temperatures must dip below 17 degrees Fahrenheit and remain under that threshold for around 6 hours because the grapes must be picked and pressed at those freezing temperatures in order to produce authentic Ice Wine. "Since we produce Ice Wine in the traditional German eiswein method, there is significant risk involved and Mother Nature sometimes prevents Ice Wine harvest," says Cassavaugh at Casa Larga, Ice Wine has been produced by proprietors Andrew Colarutolo and his son John, since the 1990s. "We have been fortunate for most of the past decade to be able to produce an Ice Wine every winter season."Īs for harvest dates - again, remember that the grapes must be frozen to produce an ice wine - "Harvest can only occur when there is a sustained freeze," notes Cassavaugh. The first thing to know about making an Ice Wine is that it cannot be produced every year.
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