The Reason A Small Bottle Of Ice Wine Is Expensive

Oct 02, 2023

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Eiswine (Icewine) had been associated with Germany and Austria since the late eighteenth century. Today, we look to Canada for Ice Wine, and to maintain the wine's singular character Canadian producers must work under stringent production rules.

Canada (and the U.S.) came late in the Ice Wine game because it wasn't until the latter part of the twentieth century when North American wine regions solidified methods to consistently grow quality wine grapes from the Old World grape species, Vitis vinifera, alongside New World hybrids developed especially to survive the sometimes horrifying volatility and cold of the North American continent—like the 2014 and 2015 winters, and now this winter.

It takes financial risk and an investment in time to produce Ice Wine, not to mention a certain cooperation from Mother Nature. Quality grapes destined for Ice Wine cannot be harvested along with the other quality grapes of summer. In fact, the wine cannot be produced until the weather outside is frightening, or close enough. But since the decision to produce Ice Wine has to be made at harvest time, a producer either needs a good crystal ball or faith in almanacs: the Old Farmer's Almanac or the Farmers’ Almanac.

In October, when the last of the grape crops are coming into the winery, a producer wanting to produce Ice Wine must decide whether the condition of the grapes is suitable for them to hang on the vine until such time as the serious frost required arrives. The air temperature must be -8°C (17.6F) or lower long enough to create ice to form around the grape clusters. In Canada, the frozen grapes must measure no less than 35 Brix—one degree Brix is equal to 1 gram of sugar (sucrose) in 100 grams of juice. Encased in ice on the vine the grapes must be picked and pressed immediately in a continuous process so they remain frozen with no melting ice.

By the time of harvest, grapes for Ice Wine are usually black raisins. How long it takes to reach that 35 Brix is largely what determines how much the resulting Ice Wine will cost. That's because the longer they hang on the vine the more the liquid inside the grape skins evaporates. The volume of liquid that remains crystalizes in the deep freeze, intensely concentrating the sugars and acids, which is what makes Ice Wine alluring in the glass. But less liquid volume per ton of grapes means higher prices.

Regions near and around the Great Lakes provide the perfect climate for Ice Wine production. The first commercial Ice Wine in North America was released in British Columbia in 1978. Since then Canada has become the world's leading Ice Wine producer, especially Ontario Province. The first commercial Ice Wine in the U.S. was produced in the Finger Lakes region of New York in 1981, under the Great Western label of the Pleasant Valley Wine Company (circa 1860s); Michigan Ice Wine followed in 1983.

The U.S. treasury department's Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) specifies Ice Wine grapes must be naturally frozen. Beyond that, U.S. production standards are not as stringent as they are in Canada, but where Ice Wine is produced in the U.S. producers generally follow Canadian rules. The disinclined are blessed with another avenue of production: TTB regulations also state "Wine made from grapes frozen after harvest may not be labeled with the term 'ice wine' or any variation thereof, and if the wine is labeled to suggest it was made from frozen grapes, the label must be qualified to show that the grapes were frozen post harvest."

In other words, you can freeze grapes other than naturally on the vine but you can't call the wine Ice Wine. Unfortunately, producers found ways to label the wine to confuse consumers. Such wines will not (or should not) cost near as much as a true Ice Wine, which can cost from $50 to $150 for 375 ml.

Since Asia has become the major Ice Wine importer many Canadian consumers complain they can't get enough of their own. Mother Nature has givenNorth America the weather this year, so maybe there will be enough Ice Wine for those who can afford it. Ka-ching!