-Canadian Ice Wine & NW Ice Wine Style Wines

Ice wine, late harvest wines, dessert wines

Ice wines are made by a surprising number of Oregon and Washington wineries. TRUE ice wines, those mind boggling elixirs of ambrosia, are almost entirely produced in North America by a few wineries in British Columbia. We offer both types.

Did you know that the Northwest produces some of the most highly rated sweet wines? Ice wines from British Columbia's Inniskillin and Jackson Triggs wineries win top ratings internationally, the highest rating ever for Chateau Ste Michelle was 97 points from Wine Spectator for a very limited ice wine, and at lower price points, Oregon and Washington wineries make world class "Ice wine styled" wines, ports, fruit based desert wines, and late harvest wines.

Ice Wines

ice wines are a speciality of winemaking regions that get really cold after harvest. Ice wines are fabulous ultra-sweet dessert wines. The most famous regions for ice wine are Germany, Austria and Canada. British Columbia makes some of the world’s best.

Until recently, British Columbia's Ice Wines were not available in the US. Now, we are thrilled to offer the BC Ice Wines of Inniskillin and Jackson Triggs, and continue to offer the ice wines of Chateau Ste Michelle, Covey Run, Kiona, and Andrew Rich, all NW producers.

Washington State produces a few Ice Wines, not usually as highly rated (or nearly as expensive as BC Ice Wines) but quite worthy, highly rated "stickies".

Oregon has Andrew Rich, whose Gewurztraminer Ice Wine is a perennial highly rated, highly prized Ice Wine at a bargain price.

What is an "Ice Wine"

To make a "true" Ice Wine, grapes are left on the vine long after harvest and are picked by hand once temperatures reach a certain level, usually about 17 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 Celsius). Typically wine workers will trudge through snow in the middle of the night to pick the grapes. These marble-hard grapes then are crushed. Since they’re frozen, just a few drops of sweet juice is released and fermented. Because it’s so hard to make and so little is made from the harvested fruit, ice wine tends to be very expensive and is offered in half-bottles.

The best ice wines are those that retain natural acidity in the face of late harvests and high sugars. This is why Riesling is one of the finest varieties for ice wine. A few wineries also are experimenting with red ice wines, using Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Frozen Grapes about to be Crushed for Ice Wine

A small amount of ice wine is made in Washington and Idaho. Some wineries make “ice wine” by picking late-harvest grapes, then freezing them. The resulting wines are not as good as the real thing, although they are generally much less expensive. Changes in laws in 2003 forced wineries that make such wines to label them as something other than ice wine. So when you see “ice wine” on the label, you know you’re getting a true ice wine.

Grapes on the Vine, Ready to Pick

Ice wine grapes are left on the vine well into the winter months. The resulting freezing and thawing of the grapes dehydrates the fruit, and concentrates the sugars, acids, and extracts in the berries, thereby intensifying the flavours and adding complexity to the wine made from it.

Genuine icewine must follow VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) regulations that prohibit any artificial freezing of grapes. The grapes are painstakingly picked by hand in their natural frozen state, ideally at temperatures of -10 to -13 degrees C -- sometimes the picking must be done at night to take advantage of the temperature. Yields are very low, often as little as 5-10 percent of normal.

The frozen grapes are pressed in the extreme cold. The water in the juice remains frozen as ice crystals, and only a few drops of sweet concentrated juice is obtained. This juice is then fermented very slowly for several months, stopping naturally.

The finished icewine is intensely sweet and flavorful in the initial mouth sensation. The balance is achieved by the acidity, which gives a clean, dry finish. The nose of icewine recalls lychee nuts. The wine tastes of tropical fruits, with shadings of peach nectar and mango.

Icewine is winter's gift to the wine lover: one of the best-kept secrets of the wine world that garners gold medals in virtually every competition in which it is entered.

The greatest of international accolade for Canadian Icewine was bestowed on Inniskillin 1989 Icewine at Vinexpo, Bordeaux, in June 1991. This wine, judged by an international panel, was accorded the fair's highest award, Le Grand Prix d'Honneur.