Ice wines are considered the crowning glory of a wine vintage – but this season only a few Franconian winemakers took the risk and left the grapes hanging until January. The Ilmbacher Hof winery in Iphofen (Kitzingen district) managed to harvest Silvaner grapes with the high value of 208 degrees Oechsle on Tuesday morning at temperatures around minus eight degrees. “It’s a dream. All the effort was worth it,” said winemaker Thomas Fröhlich, who was able to pick healthy grapes for ice wine for the first time.
Degree Oechsle is a unit of measurement for the weight of unfermented grape must. The must weight indicates the proportion of dissolved substances (especially sugar) in the grape juice, an indication of the possible alcohol content of the later wine. The legal minimum value for ice wine is 125 degrees Oechsle.
Fröhlich expects a yield of just under 50 liters and the wine will be available for sale in about six months. “This is really something special, even for us winemakers.” A 0.375 liter bottle – a small Bockssache – can cost 20 to 70 euros, sometimes more.
Equipped with gloves and pruning shears, Fröhlich and five helpers set off for the vineyard in the morning. For ice wine, the fully ripe grapes must be pressed into the press while frozen. The sweet juice then drips from the wine press. Ice wines have been produced in Franconia for almost 230 years – particularly popular as an aperitif or with desserts and cheese.
This year, according to the Franconian Winegrowers Association, only a few winemakers took the risk of ice wine. The only thing that is publicly known is the ice wine harvest at a winery in Volkach (Kitzingen district), which harvested around 200 liters of Riesling at 140 degrees Oechsle on December 4, 2023.
For years, only a few winemakers in Franconia have relied on ice wine, especially because the winters are getting warmer and it is often not bitterly cold until January or February. If the grapes hang on the vine for too long, they are often ready for compost.