Note: Inniskillin, a Niagara-on-the-Lake winery, issued this report on the Icewine harvest which, for them, began yesterday. It appears most Ontario wineries took advantage of the freezing temperatures this past week to pick Icewine grapes before Christmas. Here’s the press release from Inniskillin.
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE — Ideal conditions prevailed to allow a start to the 2010 Icewine Harvest at Inniskillin Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
With temperatures reaching Inniskillin’s ideal starting point of minus 10 throughout the day of Monday, Dec. 13th, the Vidal grapes were clearly frozen on the vine by the start of harvesting at 3:00 pm carrying on throughout the evening and finishing before midnight of the same day.
Pressing will continue throughout today and tomorrow. Winemaker Bruce Nicholson along with the Vineyard Team headed by National Manager Frank Hellwig and Niagara Manager Gerald Klose watched closely over the past week as temperatures fluctuated.  This fluctuation causes the grapes to freeze and thaw allowing the grapes to reach the desired aroma and flavour profiles of intense, concentrated fruit which forms the basis of Icewine’s popularity.
Nicholson was very happy with the natural sugar levels and good acidity which is needed to make great Icewine. Nicholson comments, “I am very pleased that the temperatures reached the desired levels this week allowing me to proceed with the 2010 Icewines giving the quality necessary to continue to produce world class Icewines.â€
Monday’s picking of Vidal Icewine took place at Montague Vineyard and Woerthle Vineyard. Both of these vineyards are located in Niagara-on-the-Lake within the Four Mile Creek Sub Appellation. While last night’s picking brought in a fair amount of Vidal grapes we still have yet to harvest the Brae Burn Vineyard which is located at the winery site.  This will be done dependent on the next window of opportunity with the ideal temperatures.
While mid December appears early in the Icewine picking season, at Inniskillin we did pick on December 2nd back in 2002. The majority of Icewine harvest traditionally takes place in January. Mother Nature completely controls when we pick and we simply must be ready to respond accordingly to get the frozen berries off the vine and in to be pressed.
Icewine is tightly regulated through VQA rules.
The grapes were netted back in the fall. The recent snowfall and cold temperatures have the many hungry starlings eyeing the grapes with no apparent deterrent from the sound machines attempts to scare them away.
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