Drinking Wines

One of the most rapidly growing trends in the world of wine seems to be with the rise in popularity of ice wines (or eiswein in German). This is interesting because these wines have been around for almost 200 years yet have not had much time in the spotlight until recent history. The most famous ice wines are from Germany, however many other countries such as Canada, Austria, and even Australia have been known to produce ice wines of their own. Because Canada is much colder and is capable of more consistent freezing temperatures has actually surpassed Germany in the production of ice wine.

Ice wine is a dessert wine that is made from frozen grapes. Only the water freezes in the grapes, so when they are pressed frozen, the juice that is extracted is very concentrated and very sweet. This freezing must happen before fermentation, and the grapes need to be pressed frozen, otherwise the water will melt in the grapes and you will not have the concentrated juice required for ice wines.

Natural ice wines require a hard freeze to occur after the grapes have ripened. In Canada, this temperature is a minimum of 17 degrees Fahrenheit while in Germany this temperature is 19 degrees. This means that the grapes must remain on the vines for several months after a normal harvest and risk being lost to rot if there is no freeze. At the other extreme, if the freeze is too severe the grapes can not be harvested and pressed. Because the fruit must be pressed while it is still frozen, pickers must work late in the night or early in the morning and work while the cellar workers must work in unheated spaces to ensure the grapes do not thaw.

Sometimes wine makers prefer to use cryoextraction. Cryoextraction is a mechanical freezing that is used to simulate the effect of the natural frost that occurs so that grapes can be picked sooner and made into wine. In Germany and Canada, wine created this way can not be called ice wine, only wines which have been frozen naturally are allowed to be called as such.

Whereas regular wines might take days or weeks to ferment, ice wines can take months due to the higher sugar content. Even though it is normal for the sugar content in ice wine to run from 180 g/L up to as high as 320 g/L ice wine remains very refreshing because of the high acidity. Ice wine usually has a medium to full body, with a lingering finish while the nose is oftentimes reminiscent of peach, pear, honey, caramel, and green apples depending on the varietal grape. Pineapple, mango, and even lychee are quite common aromas with white varietals however this list is by far not exhaustive.

Because the juice from the grapes is more concentrated than regular wine, there is a much smaller yield. It is for this reason as well as the methods used that make ice wines more expensive than table wines. Ice wines can cost as much as $300 a bottle, which is why it is often sold in half bottles for as little as $50. Grapes that have insufficient brix (sugar) content can not be made into ice wine and are therefore usually sold under the label special select late harvest or select late harvest at a fraction of the price of true ice wines.

When to drink ice wine is a matter of personal taste. Some people believe that ice wine improve with age and supporters claim that the very high sugar level and high acidity preserve the content for years after bottling. There are then others who believe that with age the wine loses its distinctive acidity, fruitiness, aroma, and freshness. Being that ice wines are very versatile in this, when you decide to drink your ice wine depends on when you feel it tastes best.

Ice wines are becoming the latest trend in the wine world and it is easy to see why. Delicious and refreshing, ice wines are a delicacy and a testament to the skills of the wineries. More expensive than a traditional wine, it is not something that the average person can afford to purchase on a regular basis, but are an essential addition to a special occasion or meal.

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One would expect ice wine to have a long history in winemaking, but it does not. In fact, ice wine has only been around for about 200 years. The prevailing theory of its ?birth? centers on a German winemaker who was surprised by an early frost. He decided to press the frozen grapes anyway, but separated them from the rest of his vintage so as to avoid ruining everything. To his surprise, the resulting wine was pure and sweet.

Ever since, ice wine has been produced to some degree in all wine producing countries of the Northern hemisphere, including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and others.

The difference between ice wine and other dessert wines is that ice wines show a much clearer fruit and varietal character. This is because other sweet wines are made from botrytis (?noble rot?) affected grapes, or with grapes that have been laid out and dried. Because ice wine grapes are healthy at harvest, a good amount of acidity remains, which gives the wine a raciness that other dessert wines generally have to a far lesser degree.

True ice wine is that made from grapes that are kept on the vine until the temperature sinks below -19.4 Fahrenheit or -7 degree Celsius. In the U.S., New Zealand and some other regions, winemakers have started producing simulated ice wine by tossing the grapes into a commercial freezer. These simulated ice wines are considered to be of lesser quality and will typically sell at half the price of ice wine made in the traditional way.

Both methods do employ the same basic idea: a grape is made up mostly of water, and since only the water will freeze at these low temperatures, the sweet grape nectar can be pressed from the grapes while the frozen water remains trapped in the skins.

It is essential to harvest on the first freezing night of the year, because grapes left on the vine to go through a freeze-thaw-refreeze cycle can pick up unwanted flavors. Winemakers are often nervous wrecks by harvest time, as they will have spent night after night waking up repeatedly to check the temperature.

?Keeping the harvest workers ready can be a tedious and embarrassing task? says Franz Heiss, head winemaker of the respected Heiss Winery in Austria. He will often have to wake up a dozen harvest workers for the fifth or sixth time, only to see another night pass without the desired temperatures quite being reached.

The best ice wines are clear and vibrant in their flavors and aromas. The aromatic Scheurebe grape has properties that make it a popular choice for use in crafting great ice wine. The stunning 2002 Eiswein by the famous Austrian Gsellmann and Gsellmann winery exemplifies this perfectly.

Traminer is another aromatic varietal that results in great ice wines. Master sweet wine vintner Franz Heiss makes a stunning ice wine from this grape, of which the 2001 and the 2002 vintages stand out. He has also made ice wine with the red grape Blaufr?nkisch, and the result is a magic rose-colored version with notes of exotic berries. As he explains it: ?An ice wine made from red grapes is very uncommon. The freezing of the grapes influences the aromas greatly, and this is especially true when the grapes are red.?

In Austria, where the wine laws are the strictest in all of Europe, only ice wines created by Mother Nature are allowed to carry the proud name. So, if Austrian ice wines are then considered to be some of the most authentic and true ice wines, one could argue that an ice wine from Austria?s flagship grape, Gr?ner Veltliner, is the truest ice wine of all. Manfred Weiss of the Weiss Winery in the Burgenland region made a Gr?ner-only ice wine in 1999 and a cuvee of Gr?ner and Welschriesling in 2001. He prefers to use Gr?ner Veltliner for his ice wine because it is resistant to botrytis, so the end result has particularly clean and clear notes.

Finding these great ice wines can be almost as difficult as making them. As the production method suggests, quantities are very limited, and the amount exported to the United States limits availability even more. Add to that the fact that every year around the holidays, most major food and wine publications run a story about ice wine, and what there is to be found on your local retailers shelf is quickly snapped up. There are, however, a few online retailers who specialize in these wines: Winemonger.com is one example, with a wide selection of Austrian wines including a number of ice wines. Or a simple online search of the name of an ice wine maker, such as the ones mentioned in this article, will yield sources. Finding a great, true ice wine is certainly worth the effort, though: there is nothing else quite like this spectacular dessert wine specialty.

Stephan Schindler is a wine importer based in Los Angeles. You can read more of his writings about wine, as well as find the wines he chooses to import, at http://www.winemonger.com

Have you been around the Valentines block and back again bearing the same, tired box of chocolates and dozen red roses?

Fellows, have you bought so many little trinkets and baubles and dinners out that they just don?t mean anything anymore?

Ladies, have you given him every conceivable romantic version of golf stuff, cute boxers, silk ties, and yourself all dolled up?

It?s past time to do something different; something special that you will both enjoy now and in the future, and that can be loaded with so much more meaning. Something unique that tells them you care, and that you took the time to think of something different this year.

This Valentines, give a bottle of great sweet wine.

Not sweet wine like wine that is sweetish and cloying and kind of awful. Not, say, a bottle of Blue Nun (not that there?s anything wrong with that). But a bottle of world-class dessert wine, the finest of which are as rare as a yellow diamond and can age for decades.

Don?t know a thing about dessert wines? Don?t panic. You probably know more than you think, and even if you don?t, you?re about to find out and it?s going to be painless.

Most wine producing countries produce some version of dessert wine, and each can be as different as the culture they come from. Perhaps you have heard of the great Sauternes wines from France? Port from Portugal? Tokaji from Hungary? Ice Wine from Austria? These are but a few examples.

In general, dessert wines are created by using grapes that have been left to hang on the vines until very late in the season (which is why you will also see them called ?late harvest wines?). Depending upon the climate, these grapes are then either harvested and laid out to air dry on straw or reed mats, or they have been affected by the noble fungus ?botrytis cinerea? (aka ?noble rot?), or they freeze and are harvested while still frozen to create Ice Wine.

Straw or reed wines are usually made from grapes that are healthy when harvested, and are then laid out to air dry on the mats for at least three months. In Italy, these wines are called Vin Santo. In Austria, they are called Strohwein or Schilfwein. Because the grapes are healthy at harvest (that is, not affected by the noble rot) they are a bit like an Ice Wine in their taste.

Wines made from grapes that have been affected by noble rot are quite rare because it takes a very special set of climatic conditions to produce them. It must be a warm summer, a mild autumn, and there must be moisture in the form of mists or fog that rolls over the vineyards from a nearby lake or river. For the noble wines from France (Sauternes) and Germany, these conditions do not occur every year. In Austria, there is an area called the Burgenland region around the Neusiedler Lake that creates nobly rotted grapes every year. These wines require several pickings at harvest time, and in Germany and Austria these different harvests produce wines that are different levels of sweetness, the lesser being called Beerenauslese, and the sweeter being called Trockenbeerenauslese.

In Austria and Hungary, there is then an even sweeter wine called Ausbruch, which is so labor intensive and rare that a half bottle can cost thousands of dollars. However, there are many Ausbruch wines from the town of Rust (called Ruster Ausbruch) that are ranked as among the best in the world and can be bought for between $30 and upwards for a half-bottle. Two producers of these Ruster Ausbruch wines to look for are Wenzel and Feiler-Artinger. Great producers of other noble sweet wines include Chateau d?Yquem and Chateau Climens (both from France) and Kracher, Velich, and Heiss (from Austria).

True Ice Wines are made when the grapes freeze on the vine, and are harvested while still frozen. Some producers in countries with less strict wine laws create ?Ice Wines? by tossing the grapes into a commercial freezer, but these are not seriously considered to be world class. The best true Ice Wines come from Germany, Austria (where they are called Eiswein) and Canada. A particularly great Eiswein for Valentines day would be one made from the Traminer grape, as it is known for having aromas of roses and rosewood. A fine example would be the Heiss Eiswein Traminer 2001, which is truly like having a bouquet of roses in your wineglass.

The final thing that makes giving a great bottle of dessert wine for Valentines a meaningful gift is the way that it speaks to your future together. The best of these wines can be put away to cellar for 10, 20, even 50 years. How wonderful to give your beloved a half-case of six of these wines, one to enjoy right away and the rest to open, say, one every ten years? What other gift can keep on creating beautiful moments like this can? What other gift says I love you and I will be there for you as we travel through this life together? Not a bunch of flowers, which may last a week if you?re lucky. Not a piece of clothing or anything of that ilk. And not a piece of jewelry, which may last, but isn?t something you keep enjoying together as time goes by. This is the year to do something different. This is the year of sweet wines for Valentines.

Emily Schindler is a fine wine importer based in Los Angeles. To read more of her wine writing, learn more about dessert wines, or find great sweet wines to give for Valentines Day, visit http://www.winemonger.com