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Niagara Wine Trail

Ice Wine

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What is Ice Wine?

Ice wine (or Eiswein in German) is a dessert wine made from grapes frozen while still on the vine. The juice from ice wine is extremely sweet. Since the sugars in the grape do not freeze, the result from pressing the grape is a small amount of concentrated juice. Ice wine has a characteristic refreshing sweetness balanced by high acidity. The making of ice wine can be labor intensive. Since frost and other natural risk factors can damage the harvest, production typically results in small amounts of wine. This is why it tends to be more expensive than other dessert wines and is sold in smaller bottles.

The cold temperatures along the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario in New York State during the winter months can produce some excellent ice wines. Several of our wineries have ice wine available, please visit their websites for more information and availability.

You can visit these links below to learn more about ice wine and the Niagara Region.

• WGRZ Channel 2 - Bitter Cold Means Sweet Business for Ice Wine Makers

• 2008 Niagara County Ice Wine Harvest Video
Niagara Landing Winery of Cambria endures the cold for its second annual ice wine harvest.