This area of Canada produces one of the most internationally sought-after products. This product is icewine. Icewine or Eiswein in Germany, is a late-harvest wine made from grapes pressed while frozen. Only three varieties of vinifera grape and Vidal may be used but usually it is made from Vidal and Riesling grapes.
To make Icewine, the grapes are left on the vine until after the first frost hits. These grapes are harvested after being frozen in the vineyard and then, while still frozen, they are pressed. They must be picked early - before 10 a.m. During both of these processes the temperature cannot exceed -8 degrees C. At this temperature (-8 degrees C) the berries will freeze as hard as marbles. While the grape is still in its frozen state, it is pressed and the water is driven out as shards of ice. This leaves a highly concentrated juice, very high in acids, sugars and aromatics.
In Ontario and in Germany, icewine is defined as naturally frozen. This means that here as in Germany, no other method of making icewine is allowed other than the natural method. No artificial freezing method constitutes icewine by definition or label.
