What is Icewine?
Icewine is a rare wine produced from grapes picked after they have frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen. Icewine is treasured around the world for its intensely sweet, concentrated flavors and rich amber color.

Where did Icewine originate?
Icewine was discovered accidentally in 1794 when an early frost hit vineyards in Franconia, Germany. The German grape farmers decided to make wine from the frozen grapes rather than discard them. The concentrated juice produced a wine with intense sweetness and high acidity.

How is Icewine produced?
Peller Estates follows the stringent icewine standards set by the Vintner’s Quality Assurance Alliance, which tests and certifies authentic icewine in Canada. Grapes are left on the vine long after the usual autumn harvest. Harvest doesn’t begin until temperatures are consistently below 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius), when the juice separates into ice crystals and a sweet concentrated syrup.

The grapes are picked and sorted by hand, often in the still of the winter night. The frozen, marble-hard grapes are immediately pressed, leaving the skins, seeds and shards of ice behind and yielding only one drop of sweet concentrated juice from each grape.

The concentrated juice goes through weeks of fermentation, followed by months of barrel aging. The resulting icewine is sweet, exquisitely flavorful and aromatic, with an alcohol content of about 10 percent.

What does Icewine look like?
Icewine pours much more thickly than an ordinary bottle of wine. The color is a deep, rich amber, often called “liquid gold.”

What does Icewine taste like?
Peller Estates’ icewine is sweet, with tastes of honey and apricot, followed by luscious peaches, then an incredibly long finish of ripe mango and honeydew melon.

How is Icewine served?
Icewine can be served as an aperitif, as a complement to foods such as foie gras or spicy Asian cuisine, or at the end of a meal with cheeses, crème brulee or fruit-based desserts. You can also sip it like a fine liqueur. Icewine is a delicacy to be savored: A half-bottle of icewine can be shared among six to eight people. To serve:

• Chill the bottle for one to two hours.
• Use the same glassware you would for your favorite after-dinner drink; small enough to hold a one- or two-ounce pour. If you haven’t tried icewine before, you may want to make your first taste even smaller.
• Take a moment to let it move around your mouth -- each passing second brings a new wave of flavor.