ICEWINE
is a wine made from grapes that would
normally be harvested in September, but instead
ICEWINE grapes are left on the vines until late
December early January. By leaving the grapes on
the vines an extra 3 months, the grapes on the vines
continue to ripen so much that the acidity of the grapes
lessens and the sugars continue to concentrate. ICEWINE
is made from naturally frozen grapes, water freezes at 0
degrees, but because ICEWINE grapes have sugar in them, it takes
a temperature of -8 degrees or colder in order for the grapes to
freeze. ICEWINE grapes when frozen are as hard as marbles, all
the water content in the grape is completely frozen so when the
grapes are finally pressed, all that is released are intensified
aromas, sugars and nutrients; we call this “Grape Honey”. It
takes 30lbs of precious grapes to make a 375ml bottle of ICEWINE
ICEWINE, Canada’s
liquid gold has become such a luxury
good that it is being knocked off in
many parts of the world. Whenever our
winemaker can take time out of his busy
schedule, he is constantly overseas
working with our Canadian Consulates to
educate the overseas media, importers
and distributors on what real Canadian
ICEWINE is. The reputation of Canadian
ICEWINES is being damaged by flood of
fakes available for sale in the overseas
markets. Our winemaker has compiled
video from the last 3 years of our
ICEWINE Harvest and put together one of
Canada’s best DVDs depicting the ICEWINE
harvest. This DVD really helps consumers
to understand what makes ICEWINE so
special. If you ever get the chance to
visit beautiful British Columbia, I
welcome you to come to our winery to see
this special DVD as well as sample our
wines.
BC ICEWINES,
the World’s Best!
BC ICEWINE is produced in the Okanagan Valley, home to
Canada’s only desert. Its such a mystery to have a
desert in Canada because Canada is known as a cool
climate country where winters last up to 6 months for
many parts of Canada. The Okanagan Valley receives up to
2 more hours a day of sunshine then Napa Valley and is
home to a 200km long lake named Okanagan Lake. The rare
combination of having a lake and a desert in the same
region results in dry spring seasons, long summers, cool
falls, allowing our grapes to slowly ripen with very
little water content in each grape. This is why the
Okanagan Valley is the latest harvesting grape region in
the world, our ICEWINE grapes are generally harvested
during late December or early January. The climate
conditions allow for our ICEWINE grapes to go through a
2 stages of natural concentration first is the extra 3
months on the vines and secondly is the pressing of the
grapes when they are naturally frozen at -8 or below
VQAThe VQA
mark on a bottle of wine assures wine consumers that they are getting a
quality wine and also protects consumers from buying bad wines. There
are many rules and regulations that must be followed when submitting a
wine for VQA approval. The VQA monitors each batch of wine made and
before the VQA mark can be applied, the VQA puts each wine through a
chemical test and a blind tasting panel test. Only when the wine has
passed both of these tests, will the wine then receive a letter of
approval allowing the use of the VQA mark. VQA only monitors the quality
control of grape wines and does not monitor the practices of a winery
Note:
Artificial ingredients can cause bodily harm
How to recognize if a bottle of ICEWINE is real or fake?
The following should be clearly seen on an ICEWINE label or
bottle:
1.The
word “ICEWINE” should only be used on its own, there should be
no gap in between the words “Ice” and “Wine” nor should either
of those words be placed on separate lines.
2.VQA
mark
3.“Product
of Canada” statement
4.Winery
Name
5.Wine
Region (Okanagan Valley)
6.
Variety and Vintage
Enjoy ICEWINE!
ICEWINE
is the World’s ultimate dessert wine, fit for the gods! ICEWINE
color is a deep golden yellow, while typical white wines are a
light yellowish green color. The longer ICEWINE is stored, the
more vibrant the color becomes. When you swirl it in a glass,
you can see how this golden liquid coats the wall of the glass
and then slowly collects again at the base of your glass. Red
Varietal ICEWINES are a beautiful rose color because red
varietal ICEWINES are not fermented with the grapes skins, so
they only receive a little bit of red while the grapes are being
pressed.
Because
ICEWINE grapes are left on the vines for so long, so
many aromas are brought out by this extra ripening period. The
aromas continue to intensify as the grapes sit on the vines
during temperatures of -8 and below. ICEWINE is strictly made
from 100% grapes, but yet there are so many fruit aromas
discovered when enjoying an ICEWINE, those aromas include honey,
peach, pineapple, cherries and much, much more. Many wines
typically have 1 obvious fruit aroma associated with each
variety, but ICEWINES are not the same, making ICEWINES truly
unique. To really appreciate all the wonderful fruit aromas in
an
ICEWINE,
be sure to give your glass a really good
swirl and a deep inhale to enjoy the
goodness of nature ICEWINE, not a drop of sugar is added to ICEWINE.
Because the grapes used for ICEWINE are picked
at -8, the acidity in the grapes at this time
have softened and the taste is silky smooth. A
small sip is enough to easily coat your
mouth; you start to experience a wide array of
sensations. The sweet taste of grape honey will
linger in your mouth long after you’ve finished
your glass, just be sure not to spoil the taste
by eating or drinking something after. Also,
before your glass is cleared away, be sure to
take another deep inhale and that sweet, sweet
smell well stick with you the rest of the night!
Serving and Storing
ICEWINE
Because ICEWINE is so syrupy, the wine is very
stable and will not drastically change, so
storing ICEWINE for a long time is not a
problem. The longer ICEWINE is stored, the more
vibrant the color will become and the taste will
be like a kiss from heaven. In an area that is
nice and cool, ICEWINE can be stored for up to
20 years. If you’re going to store a bottle of
ICEWINE for more than 3 years, you should store
the ICEWINE flat on its side. Best serving
temperature is between 4-6 degrees. Prior to
serving ICEWINE, we suggest putting it in the
fridge for at least 2 hour. If you’re in a
hurry, we suggest putting the ICEWINE in a
bucket of ice for 20 minutes before serving. The
ideal serving glass for ICEWINE is a Tulip shape
like glass. It’s said that ICEWINE is never
consumed on its own, but always shared with your
loved ones!
ICEWINE Market
Canada accounts for 80% of the worlds ICEWINE
production. Generally ICEWINE is rarely self consumed,
but rather given as a gift to friends, business
associates and for special occasions. Asia is Canada’s
biggest export market for ICEWINE. Asia does not have
the required climate conditions to produce ICEWINE, but
the Asians do love ICEWINE. The Canadian Vintners
Association has realized that in the retail markets of
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea, many fake ICEWINES
are being sold. As a result, the CVA along with a number
of Canadian ICEWINE producers have been working closely
with the Canadian Consulates in these countries to
educate the media, the food and beverage industry and
wine importers/distributors on what real Canadian
ICEWINE is. Fake ICEWINE is a very serious problem and
the reputation of Canadian ICEWINE needs to be
protected. We personally want to keep consumers from
buying fake ICEWINE, especially when ICEWINES are given
as gifts in many cases, we don’t want the receiver of
the ICEWINE to have their wonderful gift turn out to be
a horrible impression of Canadian ICEWINE. If you have
any questions or concerns, you can email us at
info@blossomwinery.com . If you like, you may also
contact your Canadian Consulate in your area.
BC ICEWINE Harvest
Dates
•1996 -
November 1996
•1997 –
January 1998
•1998 –
December 1998
•1999 – No
Harvest
•2000 –
December 10-12, 14, 15, 2000
•2001 –
January 28-30 2002 / February 2, 25 2002
•2002 –
October 31, Nov 1 2002 / February 24,25 2003
•2003 – November 5-7, December 29,20
2002 / January 3-6, 2004
•2004 – January 1-5 2005
•2005 – December 6-15 2005 / February
17,18 2006
2005 ICEWINE Harvest
We spent the whole month of December, 2005 carefully checking
the internet for the current and forecasted temperatures of our
Vineyard patiently waiting for that special day to come and
hoping it would be before the New Year. Well, this did not
happen, however the New Year started with good news as we saw
the predicted forecasts well below the -8 degree Celsius range.
We knew the time was near and it felt just like we were waiting
for a pregnant woman to say “Its time for the baby”. And then it
happened, just after midnight on January the 3rd,
2006, while everyone was comfortably sleeping in a nice warm
bed, the bells started ringing in the house and chaos began. (We
have sensors in the Vineyard that alert us in the house when the
Vineyard temperature reaches -8) Everyone in the house gets up
to embrace the cold chill of the winter night, once everyone is
dressed to take on a snow storm we quickly travel through the
darkness to wake up our neighbors to arrange for the annual
ICEWINE harvest. We checked the temperature of the Vineyard as
well as the actual grapes one last time to confirm that the
grapes were frozen and that the thermometer is reading right.
All things were a go and now it was time.
What
time was that? War time, as we arranged and organized to bring in the
troops (neighbors) and heavy machinery (farm equipment) to help us fight
the enemy, the Sun. Because as soon as the sun comes up, it will of
course cause the temperature to rise, once at above -8 degrees, this
would put an end to our joyful harvest of something truly unique from
Mother Nature. With all troops in place armed with sears and buckets, we
attacked the grape clusters from all angles in a desperate rush to pick
off as many frozen grapes as we could. Our obvious goal was to get off
all the grapes before the temperatures began to rise. As the war on
picking was coming to an end, we noticed the amount of grapes was far
short of what we expected to have harvested. It’s normal to expect a
loss, but in our case, we lost nearly 70% of the original grapes we left
on the vines. This was truly a rude awakening as it brought tears to
many of our eyes. All we could do was blame the birds, deer and the
bears for the loss of so many precious grapes. I guess you could call
the share we lost the “Animals Share” like they say in the world of
Whiskey, “Angels Share”.
In the
end, we still appreciate what we were able to harvest and we try not to
dwell on all the grapes that were lost in the process. We thank Mother
Nature for leaving us with what she did. Who knows, had the day of -8
come later on at a later date, we might not have had anything to show
for the ICEWINE Harvest of 2005 but our tears. So I hope that you can
appreciate that ICEWINE is truly unique, as we humans have no control
over availability of this precious luxury, but our Winemaker does have
the ability and the great responsibility of crafting a Masterpiece from
this heavenly gift so that we may all enjoy this precious liquid, be
fittingly named, “Liquid Gold”.
On June 23rd of 2000, the
wine industries of Canada, Germany and Austria signed and agreed on a
standard for the production of ICEWINE.
In brief, the agreement
states:
Grapes used for
ICEWINE
production have to be frozen during harvest as well as during pressing.
No artificial
freezing of any kind is permitted and it is recommended that both the
harvest and the pressing be performed at temperatures no higher than –8º
degrees Celsius.
All
of the grapes used in an ICEWINE must originate in the same region.
No
enrichment is permitted.
The minimum natural alcohol content is 15% alc./vol. The
Parties to the agreement
recognize that due to natural conditions the natural alcohol content
could exceed this minimum.
The minimum actual alcohol content must be 5.5% alc./vol.,
although within the territory of a Party to the agreement the minimum
actual alcohol content may be higher
