Sweet — ice wine (Eiswein)
Intensely sweet wine pressed from grapes frozen solid on the vine. Holding back the ice yields a tiny volume of concentrated juice with searing acidity — a high-wire balance of sweetness and freshness.
About ice wine (Eiswein)
Ice wine is the purest expression of concentration-by-cold. The grapes are left hanging long after a normal harvest, into the first hard frosts of winter, and are picked and pressed while frozen — typically at −8°C or below. Because water in the berry is locked up as ice and stays behind in the press, what trickles out is a tiny quantity of syrupy, sugar-dense juice carrying equally concentrated acidity. The result is a wine that is simultaneously very sweet and bracingly fresh, the acidity keeping the sugar from feeling heavy. The risk is total: a single warm spell, a hailstorm, or hungry birds can erase a crop, and the harvest is often a frantic pre-dawn affair to beat the morning sun. Germany and Austria make the benchmark Eiswein, almost always from Riesling; Canada has built a modern industry on reliably cold winters, using both Riesling and the hardy hybrid Vidal. Genuine ice wine is distinct from wines made by freezing grapes artificially after picking (cryoextraction), which many regions prohibit from using the name.
Production process
Principal producers
- Inniskillin
- Dr. Loosen
- Weißes Rössl
- Pillitteri Estates
Editorial notes
True Eiswein requires the grapes to freeze on the vine; check the label/region rules. Serve cold (6–8°C) in small pours — a little goes a long way. Best with not-too-sweet desserts, or as a contrast to salty and umami dishes.