Ice Wine in Texas?
Ice Wine In Texas?
As the weather turns colder and flurries appear in the sky, we are often asked: "Do you make ice wine?" It’s a great question…AND ice on the vines or even frigid temperatures for long periods are not everything that it takes to create ice wine.
The Art and Science of Ice Wine
Ice wine is a unique dessert wine made from grapes left to freeze naturally on the vine. Once frozen, these grapes are harvested and pressed while still frozen, yielding a small amount of intensely sweet, concentrated juice. It’s a labor-intensive and risky process, requiring precise timing and very specific weather conditions.
The best ice wines come from regions like Germany and Canada, where consistent subfreezing temperatures provide the ideal environment. These areas ensure that grapes freeze solid before they start to rot, maintaining the balance of sweetness and acidity that defines a high-quality ice wine.
Brrrr…Sometimes East Texas Weather is Chilly
While we do experience some freezing temperatures or even ice and snow in January, February, and March, the vines are either dormant (storing energy for the next year) or have very small buds popping out heading into spring. There’s simply no fruit on the vine to freeze.
Our grapes are fully mature and harvested in July and August due to our short, hot growing season. Grapes for ice wine have to come from a region where the fruit can stay healthy and hang on the vine into November and December with prolonged temperatures around 17°F (-8°C) to freeze the grapes naturally on the vine.
If You Love Sweet Wines
Ice wine lovers are seeking high-quality sweet wines that are well-balanced between their acidity and their sweetness. While we don’t have the beautiful frozen wines, we do have some great options for people with that style in mind. The fortified richness of our Ruby Port comes to mind as a cozy option that is approachable even though it is a high-alcohol wine at 18% abv. This is the perfect winter sipping wine for me with notes of pralines, and blackberry cobbler with an undeniable sweetness.
Ruby Port is a flagship wine that is available year-round and right now we have a Vintage Port that has been finished in our rum barrels that is so complex and elegant. If you haven’t tried it yet, what I love about it is that it truly tastes like chocolate-covered cherries with a little bit of cranberry tartness.
I do drink Port year-round, but also love the freshness of our Dulce - Kiepersol’s version of a Moscato. It’s got some weight to it, but it’s not sticky. It’s fresh and dubbed as “bottled sunshine”, perfect for person desiring an essence of ice wine with it’s honeyed flavors and a touch of apricot and peach.
So while we don’t have the terroir to create beautiful ice wines like Germany and Canada, there is a wine for every palate at Kiepersol!
Kelly Doherty is the Branding and Marketing Director of Kiepersol. A photographer, graphic designer, and writer at heart, the winery and vineyard are the inspired backdrop for Kelly’s creative endeavors.
She holds a WSET Level 3 Award in Wines from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, is a member of the Society of Wine Educators, and loves talking about wine.
