Chiness producers “hot” for icewine

Icewine winery invested by Liaoning Wunushan Milan Wine Co,ltd. and Sino-French Joint-Venture Dynasty Winery Ltd starts construction on December 8, 2009. Up to now, the main domestic wine producers, including Changyu, Dynasty, Tonghua, Mogao all started icewine production.

Icewine or Eiswein in Germany, is a late-harvest wine made from grapes pressed while frozen. To make Icewine, the grapes are left on the vine until after the first frost hits. These grapes are harvested after being frozen in the vineyard and then, while still frozen, they are pressed. They must be picked early - before 10 a.m. During both of these processes the temperature cannot exceed -8 degrees C. At this temperature (-8 degrees C) the berries will freeze as hard as marbles. While the grape is still in its frozen state, it is pressed and the water is driven out as shards of ice. This leaves a highly concentrated juice, very high in acids, sugars and aromatics.

In Ontario and in Germany, icewine is defined as naturally frozen. This means that here as in Germany, no other method of making icewine is allowed other than the natural method. No artificial freezing method constitutes icewine by definition or label.

As an emerging market with a strong taste for luxury Western goods, China is a natural fit for Canadian icewine. Imports surged in the middle of the decade, climbing eight-fold in only two years. The production of ice wine in China appeared within the last decade, and in recent years, showing a rapid growth momentum. Northeast, northwest become main producing areas of domestic icewine.

With the developing of the market, counterfeiters appeared. Some local producers put frozen grapes into the freezer and then make frozen wine, or even use Dry Wine＋Sugar to make “icewine”. These counterfeiters seriously impacted icewine’s market and image.

Therefore, some the industry experts are calling for making icewine laws combined with China's unique climatic conditions, grape varieties and production techniques, thus gradually regulate icewine production and improve the total standard of icewine in China.