Making Ice Wine Style wine

[Ceegar]

Wade/Tom/Joe - or whoever else may know, how do you suppose they make the ice wine style kits? I highly doubt they've used iced pressed grapes for the juice, or even frozen grapes off the vine, so do you think these are just regular wines with a lot of sugar for the backsweetening with proper acid adjustment to compensate for the high residual sugar content?

I'm wondering if it's possible for a home winemaker to make an ice style/dessert wine out of fresh grape juice and if so, how would you suppose one would go about it?

 

[St Allie]

Ceegar,

They have said in past posts that the grapes are harvested and pressed frozen.

I can only think that to make it from fresh grapes.. you freeze them and press yourself or..

treat like an f-pac, and reduce the juice by boiling. Then ferment the concentrate.

Allie


Allie

 

[Ceegar]

Ceegar,

They have said in past posts that the grapes are harvested and pressed frozen.

I can only think that to make it from fresh grapes.. you freeze them and press yourself or..

treat like an f-pac, and reduce the juice by boiling. Then ferment the concentrate.

Allie

Allie

Thanks - Yes, I know they harvest the grapes frozen for the real thing, and then they also freeze the grapes themselves then press - well I don't have a press and at this point don't want one. Do you have any recommended resources to look that adresses the process of boiling the juice down?

 

[Tom]

Best to GOOGLE Ice Wines of Canada.
The grapes are left on the vine covered so birds dont get to the grapes. They stay there till the temp is -8Celcius for at least 6 days. They are picked in the middle of he night and pressed. The grape will be lucky to get just 1 drop of sweet juice. The rest is tossed. Thats why its so expensive.
Thats the real short on it.
Best to read up on it.

 

[St Allie]

Thanks - Yes, I know they harvest the grapes frozen for the real thing, and then they also freeze the grapes themselves then press - well I don't have a press and at this point don't want one. Do you have any recommended resources to look that adresses the process of boiling the juice down?

No I don;t have any resources at all that will be of any use. It's going to be one of those experimental things to do. Approximating the recipe requirements is a guessing game to a degree. If you guess the recipe and print it here, we may be able to help tweak it for you.

Allie

 

[Ceegar]

No I don;t have any resources at all that will be of any use. It's going to be one of those experimental things to do. Approximating the recipe requirements is a guessing game to a degree. If you guess the recipe and print it here, we may be able to help tweak it for you.

Allie

How did you know they boil the juice to get it concentrated? I wouldn't want to just start boiling juice without any proven process to follow. I'll have to keep poking around - doesn't hurt to ask peope who are into wine making first in case someone has attempted it. Thanks St. Allie.

 

[St Allie]

How did you know they boil the juice to get it concentrated? I wouldn't want to just start boiling juice without any proven process to follow. I'll have to keep poking around - doesn't hurt to ask peope who are into wine making first in case someone has attempted it. Thanks St. Allie.

Other conversations on here regarding f-pacs Ceegar.. they talk about reducing juice by boiling it, water evaporates and concentrated juice is left behind.. Or reducing juice by freezing it and defrosting the juice first, because ice defrosts last and juice defrosts first. You take the first defrosted juice and leave the ice behind. You'll have to take the brix measurement to get an Sg to start with.

I can't buy frozen concentrate, so I have to use the hydrometer before fermenting anything.

hope that helps

Allie

 

[Ceegar]

Sorry St. Allie - I didn't realize this was covered in a previous thread. I don't see many posts about it on any of the forums.

So what's your thoughts on how they make the ice wine style kits - do you think the manufacturers are boiling the juice down, or do you think they are just making them with ordinary juice and making them sweet?

 

[St Allie]

I haven't made a dessert wine yet.

Luc knows more about yeasts, perhaps he can recommend something that finishes early and leaves your wine sweet?

My personal opinion is that commercial ice wines are made with just grape juice,they are more expensive and more concentrated in flavour and you pay for that.

Can't comment on kit dessert wines.. have never tasted a kit one.

If I was to try and copy an icewine.. I'd have to do it from scratch and taste along the way til I got a mouthfeel and sweetness I liked. Hey you're welcome and these types of wines can be approximated with a bit of imagination.. We just have to wrap our brains around them a bit..



Allie

 

[Tom]

Pure ice wine has a brix between 35 and 40. There for they DO NOT boil. I dont know where you heard that but they (wineries) DONT do that
There are plenty of good ice wine kits out there but do not get the cheapest. Remember you get what you pay for.
I was lucky last year I got 5 gallons of pure Ice Wine Juice. Boy, does it look good. I may bottle by the end of the year.

 

[Ceegar]

Pure ice wine has a brix between 35 and 40. There for they DO NOT boil. I dont know where you heard that but they (wineries) DONT do that
There are plenty of good ice wine kits out there but do not get the cheapest. Remember you get what you pay for.
I was lucky last year I got 5 gallons of pure Ice Wine Juice. Boy, does it look good. I may bottle by the end of the year.

Tom - I don't think there's any confusion on our part as to how they make the real stuff - for the most part we know that the juice is obtained by pressing grapes that have been left to freeze on the vines. I was wondering how they make the ice wine "style" kits. Is it just normal juice with a lot of sugar in it, or is it concentrated juice, that's the question I guess.

I'm wondering if I could mimmick an ice wine style kit by buying some concentrate but don't add anywhere near the water they recommend. I'm assuming acid would have to be adjusted for the extra sugar, etc. as well, but I'm not sure. I think I'm going to play around with a couple of cans of Muscat juice that would normally make 5 gallons, but only add enough water for a 3 gal batch to see where the brix reading is at that point and go from there.

I'm hoping to get some pure ice wine juice this year too but I know it's hard to come by, and expensive.

 

[St Allie]

I'd be keen to see the process on that Ceegar,


you can always send me a pm with the details if you like. I was also thinking that using cordials with preservatives in as an f-pack would also help with preventing high sugar finished wines from refermenting again. Just a thought.

Allie

 

[ruggierm1]

Pure ice wine has a brix between 35 and 40. There for they DO NOT boil. I dont know where you heard that but they (wineries) DONT do that
There are plenty of good ice wine kits out there but do not get the cheapest. Remember you get what you pay for.
I was lucky last year I got 5 gallons of pure Ice Wine Juice. Boy, does it look good. I may bottle by the end of the year.

I have never had Ice Wine. Is it a dessert wine?

 

[Ceegar]

I have never had Ice Wine. Is it a dessert wine?

It is, and it's delicous if you like sweet wines. Nothing you want to pound, but great for sipping after a good meal. The good commercial ice wine is expensive. A local winery near me makes a nice Cab Franc Ice Wine that's $45 a bottle. The Vidal grapes also make a nice ice wine as well as other varietals.

 

[Tom]

I have never had Ice Wine. Is it a dessert wine?

Very sweet. I finished my all juice Ice Wine @ 1.055

 

[Ceegar]

Very sweet. I finished my all juice Ice Wine @ 1.055

That's about what, 13-14% residual sugar - I'll bet it's awesome - I'm jealous.

I just called a place in the states to try to secure an order of it if it becomes availabe but I'll be doing some driving for it. I'm hoping I might be able to score some a bit more local - I'm still looking.