BC Spotlight Icewine An Elusive Elixir
BY TIM PAWSEY
Icewine is increasingly scarce due to climate change. Its rarity and sweet yet concentrated flavours make it the perfect treat for gift giving or top-tier seasonal celebrations. Why Buy Icewine? Icewine has grown in popularity, especially as a sweet wine served at the end of a meal. Not long ago, almost every Okanagan winery made Icewine. But with the annual harvest no longer a given, Icewine has become all the more desirable and worth tracking down. Walter Hainle made Canada’s first Icewine in Peachland, British Columbia, in 1973. A German immigrant, he was keen to replicate in the Okanagan the cherished Eiswein of his homeland. However, it was Ontario’s Inniskillin winery that first garnered international fame for its Niagara-produced Icewines. By winning the Grand Prix d’Honneur in 1991 at Bordeaux’s Vinexpo, the winery effectively put Canada on the world map as a small but quality-driven wine producer—and helped lay the groundwork for today’s industry in BC. What Makes Icewine Unique? Making Icewine is far from easy. Under strict Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) regulations, the grapes must freeze naturally on the vine and can be picked only when the air temperature drops to −8 C or lower. At the winery (which must have previously registered its intent to make Icewine), the grapes must be pressed immediately while still frozen.
6
Powered by FlippingBook