More than 100 tonnes of icewine grapes have been picked in B.C.

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Icewine grapes were harvested at West Kelowna's Rollingdale Winery last month.

Eleven B.C. wineries have picked more than 100 tonnes of icewine grapes this fall.

To become the highly sought after – and pricey – icewine, grapes must be picked at temperatures of -8 C and lower. The frozen grapes produce a sweeter juice, producing wine with at least 35 Brix of sugar.

While last year's temperatures in the Okanagan didn't hit the required low until late January and early February, wineries were spoiled this year with early cold temperatures. The longer the grapes remain on the vine, the less wine can be produced, but B.C. wineries have already picked 111.2 tonnes of grapes this season.

West Kelowna's Rollingdale Winery was the first to harvest its icewine-bound pinot blanc grapes on Nov. 28, when temperatures dipped to -10 C.

Summerhill Pyramid Winery started picking its Pinot Blanc grapes in Lake Country on Nov. 30 and then moved onto its zweigelt harvest at the Kelowna vineyard in the early hours of Dec. 1.

“We only got about a two-hour window to pick, so we still have about 90 per cent of fruit hanging, but it's really pretty fruit,” said Summerhill winemaker Michael Alexander. “It's pressing off nicely. It's going to make some really nice icewine." 

Farther south, Bench 1775 harvested several tonnes of its riesling grapes in Keremeos on the evening of Nov. 30, while Okanagan Falls' Stag's Hollow Winery harvested its icewine grapes just after midnight on Dec. 1.

"The weather was awesome,” said Stag's Hollow winemaker Keira LeFranc. “It was clear and stayed below -9 C from the time we started picking until 7 a.m., so we were able to get all of our Vidal grapes off the vines.”

Canada is one of the few wine producing countries that can consistently produce icewine, due to the large temperature fluctuations between summer and winter. Germany is also known for its icewine.

There are 20 wineries in B.C. registered to produce icewine this year, and about 463 tonnes of icewine grapes are expected to be harvested this year in the Okanagan, Similkameen and Shuswap regions.

All varietals of grapes can be turned into icewine, but to be official BC VQA Icewine, artificial refrigeration of grapes, juice or wine is strictly prohibited.