Ice Required For Icewine!

Seems like a obvious concept right? You have to have ice in order to make icewine? Well, the strange thing is, counterfeiters are using a loophole to get into the icewine business, but Canada is striking back!

Some white wine producers have been adding artificial sweeteners to simulate icewine's very sugary taste. Other companies have been picking the grapes early and then freezing them inside of buildings. Doing so helps minimize a loss of the crops due to rot. However, by picking the grapes early and freezing them inside a building, and not naturally on the vine, this can cause the grape to to have inconsistent or incomplete fermentation.

"[These companies] can produce a fine wine, but that should not be allowed to be called icewine," explains Dan Paszkowski, the head of the Canadian Vinters Association.

Canada is hoping that by implementing new federal standards requiring that "the grapes must be naturally frozen on the vine", it will help prevent fraudsters. The Canadian province of Ontario already has these same rules, but now the changes will be mandated across the country effective January 1, 2014. 

So what exactly is icewine? Icewine is a very unique, yet risky to make, dessert wine. Weather plays a vital role in the making of icewine. In fact, it has to be grown in a very cool climate because the grapes cannot be harvested until the temperature has fallen to below 18°F (-8°C) in Canada, or below 19°F (-7°C) in Germany. In Canada specifically, the first hard freeze may not occur until after Christmas. Once the grapes have met that hard freeze point, the harvesters only have but a few hours to pick the grapes off the vine. Canada and Germany are the worlds top two producers of icewine, but other countries such as Denmark, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria, Slovakia, United States (specifically in the Michigan, Washington, and Colorado), and China are also producers. It's the last of those countries that is causing the majority of the counterfeit problems.

Icewine has become rapidly popular in China, but not all of it is regulated, and that opens the door to counterfeits galore.

"It's very difficult to regulate greed," emphasizes Paszkowski. "We've identified counterfiet icewines even in five-star restaurants and hotels."

Sources: Reuters, Vancouver Sun, Lancette Arts Journal, The Telegraph, Niagara Wine Trail