When I first started writing for Slashfood, back in the summer of 2007, one of the first posts I wrote was one about freezing grapes and using them to cool sangria without watering down your drink. What I didn't say in that post is that frozen grapes also make a delicious snack, even when they aren't soaked in sweetened wine and booze. Grab a few as a healthy substitute for a popsicle.

Thanks to Allan of Eating Out Loud for the terrific picture!

Ice Wine is made when very sweet and ripe grapes are left growing on the vine until there is a good solid frost. Then the semi-frozen grapes are picked quickly during the night and immediately squeezed at low temperatures so they don't defrost. This means that much of the water in the grapes stays frozen. If the grapes melt they cannot be called ice wines and instead have to be labeled Late Harvest wines. The juice in ice wines is very high in sugars, acids, and extract (solids like minerals, proteins, etc.) because it doesn't have as much liquid water in it to dilute the juice. Ice wine grapes only yield around 20% of the juice of normally harvested grapes, so this is a very risky business proposition because one stroke of bad luck can lead to the loss of the entire harvest. High sugar levels in the juice mean high alcohol levels after fermentation of 9-11%abv, but even better high unfermented sugar levels in the finished wine so that it is sweet and balanced.

Ice wines can be intensely sweet and tend to have a heavy and syrupy body to them. They have strong, fresh fruit flavors like pineapple and tropical fruit, lychee, peaches, pears, apricots, raisins, spice, and honey. This is the key to ice wines- the fresh fruit flavors, as opposed to botrytized wines which get their sugar levels from the Noble Rot mold with the accompanying mature and aged flavors. The aroma may have fruit and floral notes, combined with assorted spices. For the best taste they should be served chilled to about 45°F, but not ice cold, in an apx. 9 oz. wine glass or a specially shaped ice wine glass like in the photo, to appreciate the flavor and aroma best.