Dave Lane, Author at Snow Farm Vineyard & Winery

The first thing to know about ice wine is that it’s a sweet, delicious dessert wine. The second thing is that it’s no treat to make!

The story goes that ice wine was discovered accidentally in Germany during a cold winter when winemakers had no other option but to harvest grapes that had frozen.

Imagine harvesting grapes in the winter, in the dark, on slippery frozen ground, while it’s snowing. That’s the first step in making ice wine.

So, the next time you enjoy ice wine, pause for a moment of gratitude for the poor souls who nearly froze to death so that you could enjoy your dessert drink.

At Snow Farm Vineyard that lucky guy is our expert winemaker Patrick Barrelet. He’s modest about how hard he works to make our craft Vermont wines. He’s got all the answers to everything you’d ever want to know about ice wine.

Check out our Q&A with Patrick about ice wine!

What is ice wine?

Ice wine is a dessert wine. It’s a very sweet wine. We call it ice wine, like the name implies, because you let the grapes hang out in the field until they freeze. That means there is less juice because the sugars are all concentrated inside the grape.

How is ice wine made?

You need to have the right temperature when you harvest it (about 20 ºF). If you harvest when it’s too cold, then it’s too concentrated…if too early then it’s not concentrated enough. The grapes need to have a certain level of sugar to be called ice wine.

It’s a difficult process. You pick the grapes when it’s cold, it requires a lot of grapes, and a lot of work. Sometimes you have to pick at night. Pressing is a long process too. Imagine putting rock hard grapes into a wine press – some presses break because of the pressure. Fermentation also takes 3-6 months and is tricky.

The end-product is so delicious and intense that it’s definitely worth making!

Snow Farm Vineyard last made a batch in 2023. We can make ice wine every year, but we prefer to wait and only make it when the quality of the grapes is exceptional and the conditions are favorable.

What kind of grapes do you use to make ice wine?

I like the Vidal Blanc grape – it makes an exceptional ice wine. It is thick skinned, so it hangs on to the vine late into the season. It has very good acidity to make a balanced ice wine. We also use Vidal to make a late harvest wine.

With Snow Farm’s late harvest wine, some berries have a fungus called Botrytis cinerea which causes the sugars to concentrate, like the freezing does for the ice wine grapes. It sweetens the grapes because it’s a spore that grows on the berries and sucks out the water, dehydrating them. That, and being harvested late in the season, makes our late harvest wine.

Why is ice wine popular?

It’s a unique product. It’s concentrated so you expect to have a lot of sweetness, but many people are surprised by the complexity of the flavors and aromas. It’s so fascinating all the aromas you can get out of the wine. The flavors are all over the place, starting with bold honey leading into a lot of exotic fruit and lychee.

Why is ice wine so pricey?

Partly because of how unique it is and partly because of how concentrated the juice is. With the quantity of grapes that I use to make ice wine, I’d rather make regular wine. We’re using at least 4 or 5 times more grapes to make ice wine compared to regular wine. You also lose a lot of the grapes due to animals and rot because they stay out in the weather until December. It’s also rare compared to other types of wine because you can’t make it everywhere. You need the right weather to make this type of wine. If you go to California, you can’t make ice wine.

What regions of the world can make ice wine?

Ice wine is made in what we call the ice wine belt. You have to be north enough so it gets cold, but south enough so that the grapes will get ripe enough. In Quebec it is only possible to make ice wine in the southern parts of the province. You need grapes to get mature enough and have enough sugar. We’re right in that belt in Vermont. In the Northeast, ice wine is made in states and provinces like New York, Quebec, Vermont, and Ontario.

Ice wine is also made in Europe but it’s more difficult. Europe doesn’t get as cold as North America so they aren’t able to make it as often…even though that is where ice wine was discovered (in Austria and Germany).

People should know that to be a legit ice wine, the grapes must be frozen on the vine. Dessert wines are not allowed to be called ice wines if a winemaker freezes their grapes indoors commercially (in Canada, Germany, Austria, and the U.S.). Those products would be labeled “iced wine”.

What about pairing it or making an ice wine cocktail?

Personally, I like to enjoy it by itself. You can pair it with desserts…like something tart will go well with the sweetness of the ice wine. A fruit pie would be good. Duck liver foie gras goes really well with it.

It’s so good on its own but you can definitely make cocktails with it! Instead of adding simple syrup to a cocktail add ice wine instead. It would also go well with brandy or gin.

How long can ice wine age for?

Depending on the ice wine, it could age for many years. Snow Farm’s ice wine specifically is best enjoyed within 2 to 5 years. That is when the flavors will be at their peak.

What is your favorite ice wine?

I honestly love our Snow Farm Vineyard Vidal Blanc ice wine. I’m a fan of Vidal Blanc ice wines due to the complexity and exotic fruit flavors that come through from that grape.

My suggestion is to make it a conversation piece. Get together with a couple friends, pour some in cordial glasses, and talk about what you’re experiencing.

Let it warm up slowly, and as it warms up you’ll notice a range of different flavors. It’s not something where you have a glass, you down it, and that’s it. You smell it, sip it, and enjoy it with friends. It’s a wine to create a conversation around.

It takes a blend of creativity and perseverance to make quality craft wines and spirits. It’s what’s kept Patrick Barrelet, the head distiller and winemaker at Snow Farm Vineyard & Distillery, going during the two-year period leading up to the launch of Snow Farm’s distillery in South Hero, Vermont. The Vermont distillery, which launched in October, is an expansion of Snow Farm’s successful winery, tasting room, and 12+ acre vineyard.

From building a new distillery facility to recipe creation, label design, and legal approval, every step along the way led to a successful grand opening with a ribbon cutting, distillery tours, live music, wagon rides, and three new spirits available for tasting, along with fortified port-style wine.

Barrelet said of the distillery opening, “So many people have been asking for the products, and now they can try them. It’s been great to hear a lot of positive reactions.”

Patrick Barrelet cutting the ribbon to the new distillery alongside co-owners Dave and Julie Lane.

A True Taste of Place

Barrelet and his fellow co-owners Dave and Julie Lane and the staff at Snow Farm welcomed friends and family from near and far to experience a one-of-a-kind taste of place at the distillery opening.

Their advice to those who toured the distillery? Enjoy the spirits at the distillery because making spirits is different from wine in that, they require more time, grapes, and other botanicals to make. This means, at this time, they can only be made in micro-batches and sold at the distillery tasting room, with pre-orders available online.

Carefully handwritten on each bottle are the batch and bottle numbers. Barrelet says the first batch of gin, grappa, and maple liqueur totaled about 260 bottles.

As he mixed a new batch of crushed stems and grape skins in two 240-gallon containers to be made into grappa, Barrelet estimated the mash would produce about five gallons of grappa.

The mash material is made up of leftover grape skins and stems from winemaking that normally would be composted immediately after the wine is made. Instead, it’s given a second life at the distillery, though it requires much more material to make spirits than wine.

“If I instead had just pressed grapes in these containers, I would be able to make about 2,000 bottles of wine. With this grappa, it’s a fraction of the product with the same amount of material,” Barrelet said.

Barrelet stirring grape mash for grappa as guests tour the distillery.

He says it’s what makes the spirits so special. Making spirits also requires the distiller to have a more watchful eye over the fermentation process to ensure the liquid from the mash is distilled while it is sweet smelling.

“The liquid goes in the still to extract all the flavors, aromas, and alcohol from the mash. The secret is to have really clean grapes,” Barrelet said. “If the grapes are really healthy, we do grappa, and if there is rot, we aren’t going to do it. It’s a lot of work to get a little bit of alcohol, but it’s worth it because we really get everything out of those grapes. Once the grapes are done, they are really ready for the compost pile.”

Barrelet says spirits don’t take as long to make as wine does, and that means he can have a new batch of spirits made in as soon as six weeks, with the grappa only needing to age about four months and the gin and maple liqueur ready to drink within a month.

“It’s a niche product, an add-on to the vineyard, and a treat,” Barrelet said.

Every Batch is a New Experience

The grapes used for each new batch of spirits from Snow Farm Distillery will likely change every year because the quality of the harvest from the vineyard depends on the growing season. This year, the base alcohol for the gin was made with a healthy batch of Baco Noir grapes, and the maple liqueur and grappa were made from an abundance of sweet Frontenac White and Cayuga grapes.

“What I’m making right now might be a base alcohol, or it could be a grappa next year,” Barrelet said. “You taste the grapes in the field and say, ‘Okay, I think it’s going to be a good year to do this or that,’ and when it comes to harvest, things can change, and you modify your recipes based on the flavors you get from the vineyard. Winemaking is the same way.”

Barrelet learned from his father and grandfather in Quebec, where he lives and grew up, how to taste fruit and decide on the ideal wine or spirits to make with it. He remembers being a young boy making Kirsch, a clear spirit made from sour cherries, and apple eau-de-vie, French for “water for life.” It’s a category of brandy that is unaged and distilled from any fruit other than grapes.

Patrick studied winemaking in Burgundy, France, a hub for wine connoisseurs. After making wine for over 30 years, he recently developed a palate for spirits.

“I first started with drinking whiskey and brandy and then to gins. After that, your palate adapts to the higher alcohol, so if you’re not used to it, you might say, ‘This is too strong,’ but when you start developing your palate, you’ll discover the sweeter notes and really enjoy it,” Barrelet said.

David Belanger, who participated in the distillery opening and tour, enjoys collecting and tasting gins from all over the world. Belanger, who has a lakehouse in Alburgh and lives in Montpelier, plans to keep Snow Farm Distillery gin in his regular rotation.

“I need a bottle for the lakehouse and one for the house,” Belanger chuckled, “The first time we came to Snow Farm was for our 30th anniversary last year, and we took our picture in the vines,” Belanger said. “Today, we took the scenic route coming down on South Shore. What a little gem here. It’s awesome.”

Learn more about what’s new at Snow Farm Distillery and plan a visit.

Author: Dave Lane

What is Ice Wine and What Makes it So Good?