by Giles Cadman
This headline came as something of a surprise to me. I did not think it was cold enough to produce Ice Wine in Australia, and it appears that it is not with the grapes being frozen in a chiller rather than on the vine. I am not sure this is authentic Ice Wine, which is produced after the grapes freeze on the vine.
While Western Australian winemakers have been sweltering in soaring heats, Margaret River winemaker Clive Otto from Fraser Gallop Estate has been working in freezing temperatures to create his own ‘ice wine’.
Traditionally, ice wine is made in the cooler regions of central Europe and Canada from grapes that have been naturally frozen on the vine.
Otto is making a similar style of dessert wine by freezing late picked Chardonnay grapes overnight in a commercial freezer at -16C. The fruit, which was at 13.0º baume sugar levels prior to freezing, was then quickly pressed the following morning at a high pressure.
‘We were excited when we inserted a hydrometer into the juice and were getting sugar readings of 17º to 21.5º baume,’ Otto said.
While this ‘ice pressed’ wine has never before been produced in WA, it is not Otto’s first foray into dessert wines, having spent many vintages making Botrytis Riesling and Cane Cut Semillon while at Vasse Felix winery.
It will be interesting to try Mr Otto’s ice wine when it is released, and compare it with German & Canadian Ice wines.
