Icewine, Baby It's Cold Outside

Cold temperatures throughout the region gave winemakers and grapegrowers the opportunity they needed to harvest their Icewine grapes. Because Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) standards require that those grapes are picked and crushed at -8 °C or lower, most Icewine grapes are picked in the middle of the night when the mercury dips to its lowest point.

The British Columbia Wine Institute (BCWI) administers the VQA standard, and wineries are required to call a special BCWI telephone line to report which vineyards were harvested, the temperature at harvest time, the grape varietal, and an estimate of how much was harvested. It's typical for calls to be received at 4 a.m, which means sleepless nights and chilly fingers for pickers.  

This week, fifteen wineries called in to report Icewine harvests in vineyards from Kelowna down to Oliver. Varietals harvested were ehrenfelser, riesling, pinot blanc, pinot noir, merlot, cabernet franc, traminer, muscat, verdelet, gewürztraminer, and kerner. An estimated total of 212.5 short tons were picked and crushed.

"The harvest seems to be over for this week because temperatures have risen slightly, but some wineries still have grapes on the vine, so more grapes will be picked if and when it gets cold enough again this winter," said BCWI communications manager Jeff McDonald. "Winemakers and grapegrowers are very positive about the quality, and we're looking forward to an excellent Icewine vintage for 2005."

Wineries reporting included Andres Wines, Blossom Winery, Calona Wines, Fairview Cellars, Gehringer Brothers, Hainle Vineyards, Hawthorne Mountain, House of Rose, Jackson-Triggs Okanagan, Mission Hill, Nk'Mip Cellars, Paradise Ranch, Sumac Ridge, Tantalus Vineyards, and Tinhorn Creek.