British Columbia 2011 - Icewine

Another Early Start for the BC Icewine Harvest

(Kelowna, BC) Mere days after completion of the BC grape harvest, the 2011 Icewine harvest began. Once again, this marks one of the earliest starts to the Icewine harvest in BC, with the first grapes being picked on November 19, second only to the November 5 harvest in 2003.

Icewine has been recognized as one of Canada's signature wines ever since the first vintage at Hainle Vineyards in 1974. This year, twenty-six wineries expressed interest in picking the "liquid gold" for an expected 875 tons, the most tonnage ever projected for BC Icewine.

The first 2011 Icewine grapes were brought in by Summerhill Pyramid Organic Winery between 9:30 pm November 19 and 12:30 am November 20, as the temperatures hovered between -9°C (15.8°F) and -11°C (12.2°F). Winemaker Eric von Krosigk notes that they brought in a total of 5.5 tons of Riesling at 37 Brix and that there are still 17 acres of fruit awaiting the next cold snap, including Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt, Syrah, and Merlot. General Manager Ezra Cipes stated that it was "great to get some berries off this early in the season, but we were worried about the temperature rising as the clouds rolled in, so we only got a small portion of our harvest off in this first round. The quality is excellent with vibrant acidity that will balance the sweetness and make for a most elegant finished wine."

Thus far, only a handful of wineries have started their Icewine harvest, while the remainder wait for a prolonged, deep freeze that may not arrive until December or January.

To keep up-to-date on the harvest, follow @winebcdotcom <http://twitter.com/winebcdotcom>, #BCHarvest2011 and #Icewine2011 on Twitter.

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