The Ice Wine Experience

Ice wine (or Eiswein) would be a very expensive sweet wine for beginners, but if you want to experience the buzz circling these treasures then by all means, spend the money. The secret behind ice wine is the concentrated sugars trapped in the wine grapes as they freeze in a late winter season. They are picked from the vine while frozen, usually at night or early morning and then pressed immediately.

But what makes an ice wine an experience worth the high cost is the taste. Think of pure, slowly dripping honey. While they freeze on the vine the water in the grapes freezes while the sugars and other solids remain. So what is pressed out of the grapes is a sugar-heavy juice. Needless to say only a small amount of juice can be gathered from the frozen grapes which limits production and results in the high price tag of the dessert wines.

One thing that confuses some people is the idea that ice wine is made from Botrytised grapes. This is wrong. Grapes used in ice wine production are healthy grapes free of the fungus Noble Rot when harvested. This allows for a deeper sweetness and a better sweet wine altogether.

Wine regions that produce ice wine are those found in very cold climes, Germany being the most famous producer. Here it is called Eiswein. Canada produces some amazing ice wines out of its Inniskillin winery in the Niagara region. And the costs of these gems? Expect to lay down $50 on average, though some reach upwards of $90 or more. Other lesser known ice wine producers are the U.S., Austria, Croatia, France, New Zealand and Australia, though Australian ice wines are making headway in the ice wine world.

The freezing of the grapes does not have to happen on the vine in all cases. In Germany, Austria and Canada it is required that the grapes be frozen on the vine in order to be classified as ice wine, but in other areas of the world the process of cryoextraction is used to freeze the grapes. This is a mechanized process of freezing. These type of ice wines are referred to as 'icebox wines".

Riesling, Germany's signature white wine grape is most used for ice wines in that country and in Austria, France and Italy. The Vidal grape, a hybrid of Ugni Blanc and Rayon dOr is another ice wine variety used in France, as is Cabernet Franc, typically a red wine grape used in the production of the famous Bordeaux wines.

Because the sugars are kept from being fermented fully in ice wine production, most ice wines have low alcohol content. German Eiswein can contain as little as 6% alcohol, while Canadian ice wines reach a little higher at 8% to 13%. And due to the limited production, the ice wines are bottled in half bottles of 375ml.

Being a dessert wine, ice wine can be paired with any dessert. Even an overly sweet dessert will be hard pressed to out-sweet an ice wine. Tarts, custards, cheeses and my favorite, foie gras, make great pairings for ice wine. Or as with any dessert wine, you can sip all on its own.

Despite the expensive nature of ice wine, it is well worth the investment as it is an experience to remember. As a sweet wine for beginners you might find it hard to venture your tastes elsewhere afterward.