The recent cold snap to hit the South Okanagan has allowed a number of local wineries in the Osoyoos area to pick the remainder of their grapes for the annual ice wine harveset. Photo Supplied

While most people have been cursing old man winter lately, a few local wineries have been praising the recent Arctic blast as it has finally allowed them to pick the remainder of their grapes for the annual ice wine harvest.
“It’s good. It was good quality [this year],” said Sandra Oldfield, CEO and wine maker with the Tinhorn Creek Vineyards in Oliver. “Everything was late this year with the harvest, but our grapes were actually in really great shape. We had no rot, which is rare, the grapes were still hanging on their wines, they hadn’t started falling on the ground, so it was very clean fruit.”
Lindsay White, marketing co-ordinator with Tinhorn Creek, said this year’s grapes were picked on the morning of January 12 when temperatures dropped to roughly -11 Celsius (in order for the grapes to be harvested, it must be at least -8 Celsius.)
White said it took roughly 90 minutes to complete the harvest, with resulted in about 3.6 tons of grapes or roughly 550 cases of ice wine.
Oldfield said the winery wasn’t really affected by the late harvest. She said the grapes were actually late ripening, so although they weren’t able to pick the grapes until January, they looked and felt like it was November, making for a great harvest.
“From our standpoint, it was better quality then we’ve seen in a lot of years,” said Oldfield.
While some wineries specialize in more than one type of ice wine, Tinhorn Creek only produces wine using the Kerner grape, which Oldfield says is a unique variety because it’s a cross with the Riesling grape, which tends to give it more of an apple and pear flavour as opposed to an apricot flavour.
Blank said the ice wine should be ready for sale sometime in July, with a 200 millilitre bottle being sold for $29.99.
Just a few minutes up the road, the Gehringer Brothers Winery also managed to complete their ice wine harvest, however, according to wine maker Walter Gehringer, it wasn’t nearly as smooth.
“We’re down on volume because of the late hang,” said Gehringer. “Our picking date was a little bit later for sure.”
Gehringer said they harvested their grapes on January 11, when temperatures sat around -10 Celsius. In total, he said it took about five hours, and while he did not want to disclose the amount of grapes picked, he said this year’s volume will only be about 40 per cent of what they expected.
“Because they froze and thawed, froze and thawed, you’re getting cell structure rupturing, and through that you’re getting desiccation happening, like evaporation, so we lost some volume that way,” said Gehringer.
Leading up to the harvest, Gehringer admitted there were some anxious times around the office as they waited for the temperature to dip far.
“You’re spending a lot of sleepless nights watching your thermometer,” said Gehringer.
But despite the stress, the co-ordination and massive commitment it takes to produce ice wine annually, Gehringer said it’s well worth it.
The complete difference shown in the flavours of wine simply because the grapes are frozen is amazing, he said.
“Freezing isn’t a new science and we all do it every day in our freezers, but it is quite amazing, the taste profile of the grape juice and the resulting wine from that process,” said Gehringer.
Unlike Tinhorn Creek, the Gehringer Brothers produce three different types of ice wine - Riesling, Minus 9 Ehrenfelser and Cabernet Franc.
“All three are looking pretty good at this point,” said Gehringer. “We’re just starting fermentation, so it’s a little premature to suggest what we know is going to come out on flavours.”
Gehringer said he expects the ice wine to be ready by April-May, with 375 ml bottles going for roughly $50 each.
In total, 27 wineries across British Columbia indicated they would be taking part in the ice wine harvest this year, producing a record 873 tons.