Canada has become one of the leading producers of ice wines in the world– organic or otherwise. Icewines are an intensely sweet desert wine made from grapes that have frozen during the cold winter months.
The grapes must freeze naturally to a temperature of at least -8 degrees Celsius to be considered for icewine in Canada. The frozen grapes are hand-harvested usually sometime after the start of the New Year. The water in the grapes freezes, but the sugar content does not. The Grapes must be pressed will they are still frozen. Each frozen grape only produces a drop of icewine – hence the higher prices for each bottle.
Although there is a lot of icewine produced each year in Canada, only a handful of vineyards are producing organic varieties of the country’s famous icewine.
The Frogpond Farm Vineyard, located in Niagara, Ontario, is an organic certified vineyard that doesn’t use insecticides, herbicides, synthetic fungicides or chemical fertilizers. All wines are organically grown, processed and certified by the Organic Crop Producers & Processors. Frogpond Farm also uses 100% green certified electricity. They make an extremely popular organic Cabernet Franc Icewine. http://www.frogpondfarm.ca/
The Rollingdale Winery is a certified organic vineyard located in Kelowna, British Columbia. The Rollingdale Winery makes several icewines in their ‘Sweet Tooth’ series including an organic Pinot Noir Icewine, Pinot Gris Icewine and a Pinot Blanc Icewine. http://www.rollingdale.ca/
Canada’s largest certified organic vineyard – the Summerhill Pyramid Winery – makes four extremely popular organic icewines, their Zweigelt Icewine, Pinot Noir Icewine, Peace Chardonnay Icewine and the Riesling Icewine. The vineyard, located in Kelowna, British Columbia, uses no herbicides, pesticides nor chemical fertilizers. They also have a pyramid on the property. http://www.summerhill.bc.ca
Deep Creek Wine Estate and Hainle Vineyards, located in the Okanagan, British Columbia, have been running their vineyards and cellar practices to adhere to organic standards since 1992. The vineyard also follows the Huber family wine purity law that states no wine shall contain chemicals or additives of non-organic origin. They produce various award-winning organic Riesling Icewines. http://www.hainle.com
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