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Canadian Ice Wine


Canadian ice wine IS THE Canadian dessert wine.

In recent years, Canada has surpassed Germany in ice wine production to become the world’s largest grower of ice wine grapes in the world.

Interestingly, Asia is the largest exporter.


In the freezing temperatures of the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario and the Okanagan Valley
in British Columbia, ice wine is produced from late harvest grapes that freeze on the vine after ripening. All harvesting is done by hand.

While the liquids freeze, the sugars do not,
resulting in a concentrated, very sweet wine.

Because there is so little liquid remaining, the juice from many more grapes are required to produce ice wine than traditional wine.


In Canada, as in Germany, the grapes must freeze naturally to be called ice wine and the temperature must be below −8 °C (17 °F).

Some other countries use mechanical freezing, sometimes called “icebox wines”. These ice wines are not considered genuine.

The Riesling and Vidal grapes are most typically used in the production of ice wine from Canada. Sometimes a Cabernet Franc may be used, resulting in a rose colored wine.

With its high acidity and sweetness, ice wine is crisp and refreshing. It has medium to full body and a long lingering finish.

Canadian dessert wine is typically more expensive than table wine due to its difficult processing requirements. Its alcohol content varies from between 8% and 13%.


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