Ice Wine
A typical “split” of ice wine (Firelands Winery, n.d.)
While sipping your delicious wine,
take a moment to ponder the intellectual
and manual labor that it took to produce
that wonderful beverage.
Winemaking is responsible for hundreds
of jobs in Ohio (Marrison, Winchell, & Orndorff, 2008).
Someone had to examine the soil, track the weather, purchase the right seeds, nurture the grapes’ growth, and carefully harvest the crops (Amerine, 1964). Harvested grapes are macerated (crushed), then fermented with yeast and sometimes additives for flavor (e.g. sugar, fruit juice), and set up to age in wood barrels (Amerine, 1964). The time they are left to age depends on the wineries’ specifications, and some vintners prefer to let wine further age individually once bottled (Amerine, 1964).
Ohio’s wineries are a major draw for tourism, and wine and grape production pump millions of dollars into Ohio’s economy each year (Marrison et al, 2008). In response to the Northeast Ohio Wine Lover’s Survey, 88.5% of winery visitors indicated the wineries were the primary purpose of their visit to the local region (Marrison et al, 2008). Also, according to this survey, fifty-six percent of respondents indicated they prefer a sweet wine, so it is lucky that Ohio has the right weather conditions to produce ice wine (Marrison et al, 2008).
According to Knebusch (2015), because of specific weather and harvesting conditions required to create ice wine, only a handful among the more than 200 wineries in Ohio produce it--including the three highlighted on this site. Ice wine is helping to increase cash flow to Ohio wineries, boosting Ohio’s profile as a winemaking state (Knebusch, 2015).
The grapes used in producing ice wine must are harvested usually in November and December, after they have been left to freeze on the vine (Ostapenko et al, 2017). This boosts their sugar content; for comparison, “dry red wine may have 0.2 percent residual sugar, which is a measure of the natural sugars left after fermentation, ice wine has 15-22 percent” (Knebusch, 2015, para. 15). Ohio is one of the few places where the temperatures are low enough and weather patterns are consistent enough for this process (Knebusch, 2015).
Ice wine is a dessert wine which is best suited for sipping “like a cognac or a brandy,” and may be paired with desserts or enjoyed as a dessert itself (Knebusch, 2015, para. 17). Because it is a rare commodity, expect to pay $20 to $50 for a “split” (a bottle half the size of a standard bottle of table wine) of ice wine (Knebusch, 2015, para. 23). This is due to the risky growing process, as the farmer is required to leave the grapes on the vine past the normal harvesting season--less grapes make it to this stage, and thus they are costlier to produce (Ostapenko et al, 2017).
References
Amerine, M. (1964). WINE. Scientific American, 211(2), 46-60. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24931596
Firelands Winery. (n.d.). Firelands Winery Ice Wine [PDF Brochure]. Retrieved from http://www.firelandswinery.com/winelist/sellsheets/ice_wine.pdf
Firelands Winery. (n.d.). Ice wine [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.firelandswinery.com/winelist/
ICE WINE. (2011). YouTube. Retrieved 1 October 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZgsu6Kb1s8
Knebusch, K. (2015, February 9). Ohio ice wine is hot--share it with your Valentine. Retrieved from https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/ohio-ice-wine-is-hot-%E2%80%94%C2%A0share-it-with-your-valentine
Marrison, D., Winchell, D., Orndorff, M. (2008). The Northeast Ohio grape & wine economic impact study [PDF]. Retrieved from:http://www.lakecountyohio.gov/Portals/20/Resources/economic%20impact%20of%20the%20viticultural%20industry.pdf
Okwineries. (2012, April 29). Ice wine [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZgsu6Kb1s8&feature=youtu.be
Ostapenko, V., Tkachenko, O., & Iukuridze, E. (2017). Analysis of alternative methods and price politic of icewine production. Food Science & Technology(2073-8684), 11(2), 9-15. doi:10.15673/fst.v11i2.507
Firelands Winery Ice Wine (PDF Brochure)
Summerhill Pyramid Winery takes a look at the speciality that is Ice Wine. This 2011 clip is by Studio East 2 West.