Virgina Produces Ice Wine

Filed in archive Wine Making on August 7, 2007

When I think of ice wines, I think of Canada and Germany. Or if we're talking about the Unitied States I think of New York's Finger Lakes region. The state of Virginia, which typically has a pretty mild climate, ice wine doesn't exactly spring to mind, but a cold front last fall set the perfect conditions.

From Dailypress.com:

Last month, AmRhein Wine Cellars started marketing the sweet dessert wine in half bottles at $45 a bottle.

The price reflects a rare vintage for Virginia: a wine pressed while the grapes are still frozen...

Ice wines are typically made in the cooler climate regions of the Northeast and Canada, and are harvested in the late fall to early winter. For them to be produced as far south as Virginia is a bit of an anomaly, wine experts say.

"I've never heard of it at this latitude," said Bruce Schoenfeld, wine and spirits editor for Travel & Leisure magazine. Typically, the grapes have to be left on the vine long enough for them to begin to shrivel and then picked after the first frost.