Feeling a little nippy this winter? Spare a thought for the ice wine grape pickers. In the depths of mid-winter Canada, these cold-hardy wine-loving troopers are called from their beds in the dead of night to trawl vineyards laden with frozen grapes, often in temperatures of -10°c or below. The reward? A few tiny droplets per grape of pure, sweet and tangy juice – the purest essence of the wine grape. This nectar-like liquid is used to make ice wine – the world’s purest, freshest and fruitiest sweet wine.
This week I chat with Mark Torrance and Renee Wright from Peller Estates Winery in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada. Temperatures there have dropped below -25°C over recent weeks – pretty unpleasant for humans, potentially wonderful for ice wine! Apparently there’s quite a nice waterfall nearby too…
To learn more about Peller Estates Winery, visit www.peller.com. To learn more about wine in general and to book onto a course, visit www.wsetglobal.com
The Oddrop Drinks Podcast is hosted by Lucy Stevenson and produced by Louise Mulroy. For more information about the series or to get in touch, visit www.oddrop.co.uk or find us on Twitter/Instagram @Oddrop_Podcast