Martin Schulze of Schulze Vineyards & Winery braving the chilly temps to harvest his frozen crop.
If there’s a buzz leaking out of the Niagara wine region it’s certainly coming from the handful of local wineries producing ice wine. Sure there’s red wines, white wines, dry wines and sweet wines in the region, but ice wine is one of the few varieties that we can declare with confidence is perfect for our climate.
As you know, ice wine is made from grapes left frozen on the vine and then harvested and pressed when temperatures settle below 18 degrees for a few days. The water in the grapes stay frozen and the sweet nectar of the grape is collected for fermentation. The end result is usually a wine with moderate alcohol, a high level of natural sweetness and laser-focused flavors. Usually fetching $40-$100 per half bottle (375ml), these wines are decadent and routinely call for a special occasion to drink.
Recently a New York Post travel writer visited several wineries here to highlight winter wines like ice wine and late harvest offerings. Our local media has considered the ice wine harvest to be newsworthy this season, as articles from the Buffalo News and Tonawanda News have featured some of our wineries that are making ice wine. Magazines like Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast have awarded respectable scores for these wineries, with Arrowhead Spring Vineyards receiving 90 points (WS) and Niagara Landing getting 86 points (WE).
There’s no doubt that this is just the beginning for local wineries that are taking advantage of our predictably cold climate. You can’t deny that the fastest journey to national recognition of Niagara wines may be through our ice wines. Expect more and more wineries to produce it every year as the buzz becomes louder and louder outside of just local media.
