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Canadian Icewine: how it's made and how to drink it

Grapes left on the vine until they freeze, picked at -8°C in the dark. What makes Canadian Icewine, the rules behind the name, Vidal and Riesling, Niagara and the Okanagan.

Alper Billik · Advanced Sommelier

Updated October 2026 · 4 min read · Edited with AI

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On this page

How Icewine is made
The rules behind the name
The grapes
The regions
A short history
Producers to look for
How to serve it
Questions people ask

The short answer: Canadian Icewine is a sweet wine made from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine, are picked at -8°C or colder, and are pressed while still frozen. The water stays behind as ice; only a few drops of thick, sugary juice run out. The result is intensely sweet, yet fresh, because the acidity is concentrated too.

How Icewine is made

Wait. At normal harvest, some rows are left hanging, often netted against birds, into the winter.
Freeze. Weeks of cold freeze and dry the berries on the vine.
Pick in the cold. The harvest can start only once it is cold enough, usually at night or before dawn, at -8°C or below.
Press frozen. The grapes go straight into the press. Most of the water stays inside as ice; what comes out is concentrated juice.
Ferment slowly. The very sweet juice ferments slowly and stops with a lot of sugar left, so Icewine is usually low to moderate in alcohol.

The rules behind the name

In Ontario, the VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance), run by the Ontario Wine Appellation Authority, defines Icewine as wine "made from grapes frozen naturally on the vine". The grapes must be harvested below -8°C, and the juice must reach at least 35 Brix (a measure of sugar). The grapes must be vinifera varieties or Vidal. Freezing grapes in a freezer after picking, sometimes called cryoextraction, cannot make Icewine. There is also a Sparkling Icewine category.

Germany and Austria make the same style as Eiswein, with a harvest temperature of -7°C or colder under German law. Canada spells it as one word: Icewine.

The grapes

Grape	What it tastes like
Vidal	A hardy hybrid with thick skins: apricot, peach, honey, tropical fruit. The classic Canadian Icewine
Riesling	Higher, sharper acidity: lime, peach, honey; ages well
Cabernet Franc	A red Icewine: strawberry, rhubarb, red berries, pale ruby colour

Vidal: What it tastes likeA hardy hybrid with thick skins: apricot, peach, honey, tropical fruit. The classic Canadian Icewine

Riesling: What it tastes likeHigher, sharper acidity: lime, peach, honey; ages well

Cabernet Franc: What it tastes likeA red Icewine: strawberry, rhubarb, red berries, pale ruby colour

The regions

Niagara Peninsula, Ontario: the heart of Canadian Icewine, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The lakes moderate the summer and autumn, and winter reliably brings the deep freeze.
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia: a long, dry valley with hot summers and cold winters, and the place where Canadian Icewine began.
Smaller amounts come from other Ontario areas and from provinces such as Nova Scotia and Quebec.

A short history

In the Okanagan, German-born Walter Hainle made Canada's first icewine in 1973, a few dozen litres of Riesling caught by an early frost; his family released it commercially in 1978. In Niagara, Inniskillin, founded in 1975 by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, made its first Vidal Icewine in 1984. Its 1989 Vidal Icewine won the Grand Prix d'Honneur at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in 1991, and the world started paying attention.

Producers to look for

In Niagara: Inniskillin, Pillitteri Estates, Peller Estates, Reif Estate; on Lake Erie, Pelee Island. In the Okanagan, many estates make small amounts. Icewine is a premium wine, usually sold in half bottles (375 ml) or smaller, because so little juice comes from each vine.

How to serve it

Cold: straight from the fridge, around 8–10°C. Too warm and the sweetness feels heavy.
Small pours: about 60–75 ml. A half bottle serves six to eight people.
The glass: a small white-wine glass or a tulip that narrows at the top; never a tiny shot glass. More on ice wine glasses.
With food: a dessert that is less sweet than the wine (fruit tart, crème brûlée, cheesecake), blue cheese, aged cheddar, or foie gras. Or simply on its own, as dessert.
Once open: recork and keep it in the fridge; the sugar and acidity help it keep for several days.

For how noble rot makes a very different kind of sweet wine, read botrytis, the noble rot. Icewine production is on the Court of Master Sommeliers' Advanced syllabus.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between Icewine and Eiswein?

The style is the same: grapes frozen on the vine and pressed frozen. Icewine is the Canadian name and spelling, with a -8°C harvest rule in Ontario; Eiswein is the German and Austrian term, picked at -7°C or colder in Germany.

Why is Icewine so expensive?

Frozen grapes give very little juice, the harvest is risky (birds, rot, a warm winter), and picking happens at night in deep cold. Each vine makes only a small amount of wine.