Michigan’s Ice Wine is a Seasonal Delicacy

Michigan winters provide perfect conditions for producing ice wine-- what is it?

Our "Water-Winter Wonderland" is not for the faint of heart! As we know, long winters in Michigan are a lot more tolerable when you've got tasty libations to keep you toasty and warm this season.

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Not surprising, our winter weather is enough to make Michigan a top producer of the dessert delicacy known as "ice wine." If you've never heard of it, here's what you need to know about this sweet elixir:

How Ice Wine is Made

I hope this news doesn't come as a shock: ice wine is simply wine made from frozen grapes! However, in order to make ice wine conditions must be just right-- not too warm, not too cold. According to Pure Michigan,

Harvesting grapes for ice wine must be done when the temperature drops to about 18 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point, the water in the grapes freezes, but the sugar does not.

Basically, ice wine is the Goldilocks of the vineyard.

Instead of harvesting at the end of the season grapes for ice wine are intentionally left on the vine to freeze. However, it's a delicate process as the longer they grapes stay on the vine the more sugar is produced but that also allows for more opportunity to lose the grapes to due to external factors like critters or weather.

Considering the poor conditions Michigan cherries and peaches faced this season attempting to make ice wine seems like a particularly risky move for any local vineyard. In fact, things were so bad this season the USDA declared a federal disaster for Michigan sweet cherries.

Will our grapes fare any better? Once they have frozen solid they become unusable. Conversely, if the frozen grapes thaw out they don't yield the super-concentrated elixir needed to make ice wine. Producing this special type of wine means conditions need to be just right.

Which Michigan winery makes your favorite ice wine?