Zero Eiswein Production From Germany This Year; Increasingly Difficult To Grow As Winters Warm

[hatrack]

A warm winter means that for the first time in years Germany’s vineyards will produce no ice wine, an expensive golden nectar made from grapes left to freeze on the vine. The German Wine Institute said on Sunday that temperatures had not dropped to the prerequisite low of -7C (19F) in any of the country’s wine regions.

A succession of warm winters have reduced ice wine production in recent years, the wine industry’s marketing arm said. Only seven producers managed to make it in 2017, and only five in 2013. It did not say how far back records went.

“If warm winters become more frequent over the coming years, ice wines from Germany’s regions will will soon become an even more expensive rarity than they already are,” said Ernst Büscher, a spokesman for the institute.

Freezing the grapes before they are crushed concentrates the sugar and leads to an intensely sweet wine often served with dessert. It has always been a niche product, accounting for about 0.1% of German production, and the low volumes make it expensive.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/01/warm-winter-puts-paid-to-german-ice-wine-production

[braddy]

1. I had never heard of ice wine and ordered a glass in Germany, it was quite a pleasant surprise.

[Alliepoo]

2. Hmmmm

Northeastern Ohio produces ice wines, too. Wonder if their production has been impacted by warmer weather. I’m in central Ohio and it’s been a very mild winter both temperature wise and below normal snowfall. Don’t pay that much attention to weather up around Lake Erie and points north.