Yeah! Its an Ice Wine!!!!! Yes everyone, Mother Nature graced us with some COLD! COLD! COLD! days in the middle of December. On December 16th 2008, with temperatures in the single digits, we had those much-needed cold temperatures required to freeze an intensely sugar-filled grape on the vine. With a temperature of 6˚ F at the onset of the Ice Wine harvest, the chilly thermal reading refused to break into the double digits. So with hats, gloves, facemasks and heavy coats donned and all body parts carefully covered except for their eyes, our hard working harvest crew braved the freezing temperatures to bring in the harvest for our 2008 Cave B Ice Wine. The fruit was beautiful, and eating these frozen grapes was much like having a tiny spoonful of a delightful Semillon Sorbet. A final sugar reading in the juice of 39.5 degrees Brix assures that this Ice Wine can achieve a perfect balance of alcohol to residual sugar.
Thank you, weather…hello, Ice Wine.