Style
Icewine / Eiswein
ICE-vine
Picked frozen
Grapes left to freeze on the vine, pressed while still ice, so water stays behind as crystals and the syrup ferments into a piercing, sweet wine.
- tropical fruit
- citrus peel
- honey
- apple
- flowers
Canada (Ontario, British Columbia) and Germany are the classical homes. The pick happens in the dark, well below freezing, and yields are tiny. Unlike botrytis wines, icewine tastes of pure, amplified fruit rather than saffron and fungus.
Vidal and Riesling are the usual grapes. Cheap 'ice wine' from frozen fruit in a freezer is a different, lesser product — the vine has to do the freezing.
Fruit, blue cheese, and not-too-sweet desserts. Serve cold.
At the table
Service
43–46 °F (6–8 °C).
