Ice wine: chill brings thrills for German growers

While the rest of Germany shivered at November’s belated arrival at the weekend, the country’s winegrowers rubbed their hands in glee – and to get warm – then started work.

After two nights of frost – and even snow in some regions – teams fanned out at dawn on Sunday morning across vineyards in the eastern Saale-Unstrut wine-growing region.

Wearing thermal jackets and head torches, they picked through the remainder of this year’s harvest and collected nearly 700kg of frozen Riesling grapes. Pressed quickly while still frozen, the grapes yield a beloved speciality: Eiswein, or ice wine.

There are strict rules on producing the sweet, concentrated dessert wine. Dry weather is essential, as are temperatures of at least minus seven degrees on two consecutive days. A swift cold snap last week kicked off early the ice wine harvest, which often comes as late as Christmas or not at all. Mild weather in 2019 and 2020 meant there was no ice wine at all.

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“I have never had such an early date in my 20 years of service,” said Hans Albrecht Zieger, head of the Freyburg-Unstrut Winegrowers’ Association.

While there are indications that ice wine was first produced in ancient Rome, the first modern records of production date from northern Bavaria’s Franconia region in 1794. Only six ice wine harvests were documented in the 19th century.

Specialised in the delicacy today are eastern German wine-growing regions, in particular Saxony. At 5am on Sunday, 25 winegrowers east of Dresden sent out teams into the bitter cold who returned within an hour with their haul for immediate pressing.

“With a freezing point lower than that of water, it is possible to obtain from the grapes a concentrated and extract-rich must [young wine],” explained Mr Martin Junge of the Saxon state winery, Schloss Wackerbarth.

This year it held back grapes on just 1,000 vines of the Traminer variety in the hope of a chilly winter – a bet that has now paid off.

But given the tiny quantities of wine must the frozen grapes produce, ice wine is an increasingly expensive delicacy.

Just 250 bottles of Wackerbarth’s most recent ice wine vintage are on sale and a small 375cl bottle costs €200.

“With climate change,” said Mr Junge, “we’d be happy to get an ice wine in the bottle every 10 years.”