Our cold winters make Canada
the perfect location to produce ice wines.

Ice wine is a sweet dessert wine that is produced from grapes that are picked while frozen on the vine with the outside temperature needing to be -8 degrees Celsius or below. The sweetness of ice wine lies in the fact that while the water in the grapes freezes, the sugar does not. This means that when the grapes are crushed, a much higher concentration of sugar is produced.

Canadian ice wine is famous throughout the world. Canada, especially BC and Ontario, has the exact climate conditions needed to produce world class ice wines. The first ice wine to ever be released commercially was from Peachland, BC in 1978. Since then, however, Ontario has edged BC out of the market slightly, as they have more consistently cold winters.

Ice wine is a high risk endeavour as grapes may rot before they freeze, the winter temperatures may not be cold enough every year, and, once deemed frozen, the grapes must be picked immediately in the early hours of the morning by a large, on-call labour force. The high risk factor means that not a lot of ice wine is produced, hence its high price. In 2006, five cases of Chardonnay ice wine were released by Canadian producer Royal DeMaria with a half-bottle price of $30,000 CDN making it one of the world’s most expensively priced wines. (decanter.com). Germany also produces ice wine, but the rules are not as strict as Canada’s so what is called an ice wine in Germany is often a Late Harvest wine in Canada.

Check out a local ice wine from Little Straw Vineyards in Kelowna, BC. They sell a fresh and vibrant ice wine that boasts tangy berry aromas and intense dried berry flavours that linger on the palate. Their 2010 Lemberger is $12.50 for a 50mL bottle.