The recent cold snap may have been harsh for residents, but icewine makers in the Okanagan are celebrating the negative temperatures.
Grapes that are picked for icewine must be frozen before coming off the vines and once the ideal subzero temperature sets in, crews have mere hours to harvest the fruit.
Producing icewine is delicate and risky, and keeping the grapes from defrosting is one of the main concerns, according to Grizzli Winery鈥檚 sales coordinator Breanna Nathorst.
鈥淚t has to be -8 C minimum but we like to wait until about -10 C because you get more concentrated fruit flavours when you wait a little bit longer,鈥� Nathorst said.
Once crews harvest the grapes, they鈥檙e kept outside in large bins. Then the fruit is pressed outdoors in movable presses which are moved to a location that has coldest temperatures.
Nathorst added one bottle of white icewine has approximately 30 to 35 pounds of grapes, and a bottle of red icewine has about 50 to 55 pounds.
鈥淲hite icewines are more common and red icewines are a lot more rare, which is why they鈥檙e also more expensive,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he reason for that is because you鈥檙e getting a lot more flavour in there, and they鈥檙e riskier to produce because we wait until it鈥檚 -14 C before we pick the grapes.鈥�
In general, Nathorst said icewine is riskier and takes a bit longer to produce.
鈥淔or table wine, we harvest them in the fall. That鈥檚 when you see the vineyards full and beautiful and it鈥檚 usually in October that we harvest the grapes. It takes about 10 to 12 pounds of table grapes to make a 715 millilitre of wine.鈥�
鈥淲ith icewine, we鈥檙e monitoring the temperature, making sure it鈥檚 cold enough. And if the temperature goes warmer than the minimum -8 C, you could lose your crop. If they do thaw, that鈥檇 be a late harvest wine. It鈥檇 be a sweeter wine, but it鈥檚 not icewine.鈥�
Andrea Sorestad leads tours at Grizzli Winery and she said once the juice is extracted from the grapes, it鈥檚 all moved into fermentation tanks.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when the yeast is added, and that process takes four to six weeks,鈥� Sorestad said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very long and slow, and that鈥檚 because the icewine is super concentrated with sugars and it鈥檚 hard to break down so it takes a while.鈥�
She added that fermenting table wine only takes about ten to 12 days.
Grizzli Winery will be hosting its first annual icewine festival to celebrate wine and of course, icewine. The festival also coincides with the Lunar New Year.
There will be an outdoor fire, Chinese calligraphers and a chance to taste the winery鈥檚 award-winning icewines.
For more information and tickets, visit Grizzli Winery鈥檚 .
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