Cold temperatures have a hand in producing fine wine…

Canada, I am proud to say, has produced some world-class exports – and I’m not just talking about hockey players. No. I’m talking about ice wine.

You are not alone if you have not had the pleasure of sampling it, or if you haven’t heard of it before. But Canada is considered to produce some of the finest ice wine in the world, the production of which owes a great deal to the weather, specifically ice cold temperatures.

In contrast to most other wine-producing regions, Canada, and particularly Niagara, has very consistent freezes in winter and has become the largest ice wine producer in the world. Although Niagara-on-the-Lake's Inniskillin is considered the first and one of the largest volume producers, numerous smaller New World wineries in the Niagara Region have made their presence known with extremely high quality product that have won awards around the world.

Natural ice wines require a hard freeze (by law in Canada a minimum of −8 °C or 17 °F and in Germany a minimum of −7 °C or 19 °F) to occur sometime after the grapes are ripe. This means that the grapes may hang on the vine for several months following the normal harvest. If a freeze does not come quickly enough, the grapes may rot and the crop will be lost. If the freeze is too severe, no juice can be extracted. Vineland Winery in Ontario once broke their pneumatic press in the 1990s while pressing the frozen grapes because they were too hard (the temperature was close to −20 °C).

The longer the harvest is delayed, the more fruit will be lost to wild animals and dropped fruit. Since the fruit must be pressed while it is still frozen, pickers often must work at night or very early in the morning, harvesting the grapes within a few hours, while cellar workers must work in unheated spaces. In Austria, Germany and Canada, the grapes must freeze naturally to be called ice wine. Some winemakers use mechanical freezing to simulate the effect of a frost and typically do not leave the grapes to hang for extended periods as is done with a natural ice wine. These non-traditional ice wines are sometimes referred to as "icebox wines."

So there you have it - ice wine, a fine and refined Canadian export. By the way, as you probably can imagine, the best of the best of Canadian ice wine can cost several hundred dollars! Japanese tourists are big fans of Canadian ice wine. I have been to Niagara Region ice wineries where by the bus load Japanese tourists come to buy in large quantities! I like it very much myself! ideally, it is best served alongside a decadent dessert. It’s sooooo good!

Have any of you ever tried ice wine? If so, let me know what you think. Cheers!