It is quite a paradox that many of us never get a chance to taste an ice wine. It is difficult to think why is it so? Of course, it is accessible and you can find at least a couple of them at any good store. It is true that these wines are expensive; a quality ice wine is a natural perfection and well worth the price.

If you want to find a gift for a friend, an icewine bought from ice wine festival on the lake Niagara, can be a perfect gift. In Canada, icewine makers pride themselves on making these wonderful wines. If you don’t believe me, taste icewine with a rich chocolate dessert or a suitable cuisine; you will be thrilled to find what you have been missing out till date. At ice wine festival, Niagara Ontario, winemakers actually educate you on the appropriate food combinations with different icewines. This festival seems like an open university of icewines.

Icewine is a type of sweet or dessert wine that has been produced from grapes that were allowed to freeze while still on the vine. However in case of icewine, you have to make sure that the grapes should not be infected by a typical fungus.

The secret of sweetness of these wines comes from the fact that the grapes being left on the vine, continue to absorb natural sugars. During the autumn, the temperature starts falling, but what is important is that the acidity level remains high. According to the expert winemakers, any drop in the level of the acids will yield a very poor quality wine. Icewine’s refreshing and superb taste is a result of balanced acidity with its sweetness.

When the grapes are frozen on the vine, harvesting season begins. It starts with a painstaking process of picking and selection of right bunches of the frozen grapes. All this process is done by hand and it is done mostly during night, so that grapes do not thaw out prior to pressing. It is extreme cold temperature in Niagara Ontario during this season and even the cellar staff works in that freezing cold.

When the icewine is made the major question is how cold it should be to extract the juice from the frozen grapes, because if it is extreme cold when the temperature dips to minus ten or something, very little juice can be extracted. So, it is very important to decide the right time for harvesting. When frozen grapes are brought to winery, they are immediately pressed to get the concentrated and tasty juice.