Title: Eiswein-msg
Subject: Wine made from grapes left on the vine until after the first frost hits. Originally German wines but found elsewhere now.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: Eiswein, German, ice, wine, freeze, grape, late harvest, frost

Eiswein-msg - 10/1/04

Wine made from grapes left on the vine until after the first frost hits. Originally German wines but found elsewhere now.

NOTE: See also the files: wine-msg, brewing-msg, beverages-msg, grapes-msg, fd-Germany-msg.

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This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 19:01:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: SC - 16th Century recipes a few questions

> Could someone sort through the rest and tell me what they are in
> particular. I thought icewein was made from frozen grapes, is it
> either red or white or both?
> 
> Valoise

If I am not mistaken, most German wines are white.  I
am sure that there are a few exceptions that I am not
aware of, but mostly they are white.  Kabinet is made
from a grapes picked at the regular harvest time. 
Auslese was picked later, allowing more natural grape
sugars to form.  Berenauslese means very late harvest,
meaning that it is even sweeter. Trockenberenauslese
means very very late harvest, meaning that it is still
more sweet.  It tastes very raisiny.  Eiswein is made
from grapes that are still one the vine and have just
gone thru a cold freeze.  This can happen at any time
in Germany.  The grapes are picked while the frost is
still on the grapes and pressed right there in the
field to get that special taste frost brings to
grapes. The grapes are not allowed to defrost before
they are pressed, nor are the grapes frozen after
picking.  It is rare to find an eiswein and fairly
expensive.  But I do own several bottles and only
drink one at special occasions.  This is according to
Pieroth, the German winemaker I deal with the most.

Maywine is a special occasion wine made only in May in
Germany. It is a sweet dessert wine that has been
infused with the flavor of woodruff during the
fermentation period.  Woodruff is a sweet-scented
herb, if I am not mistaken, and it creates a different
flavored wine.  Not everyone likes Maywine.  

Huette

Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:46:11 -0700
From: Lorenz Wieland <lorenz_wieland at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Wine must???
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Harris Mark.S-rsve60 wrote:
> I thought Eiswein was made from late season grapes and not a special  
> grape. But yes, starting with a more sugary juice would have an effect  
> after being boiled down. But I've wanted to try Eiswein after the  
> comments about it here and stayed away from buying a bottle because of  
> the cost. To pay those prices and then boil it down... Ouch!

Eiswein is made from frozen grapes.  It can be made from any one of
several grape varieties and either normal harvest (auslese) or late
harvest (spätlese).

-Lorenz

Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:04:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Eiswein, was Re: [Sca-cooks] Wine must???
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> I thought Eiswein was made from late season
> grapes and not a special grape. But yes,
> starting with a more sugary juice would have an
> effect after being boiled down. But I've wanted
> to try Eiswein after the comments about it here
> and stayed away from buying a bottle because of
> the cost. To pay those prices and then boil it
> down... Ouch!
>
> Stefan

Eiswein is made from grapes that were frozen on
the vine by an unexpected freeze.  The growers
bring the grape press into the vineyard and press
the grapes while they are still frozen.  If they
defrost before they are pressed, the wine will
not be as good.

The late harvest wine is Berenauslese.  The very
very late harvest wine is Trockenberenauslese.

Huette

Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:57:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Eiswein
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

--- Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com wrote:
>> Eiswein is made from frozen grapes.  It can be made from any one of
>> several grape varieties and either normal harvest (auslese) or late
>> harvest (spätlese).
> This is the first time I've heard it mentioned that there might be two
> types of Eiswein. I assume the spatlese variety is sweeter because it
> has been on the vine longer? Why would you have the earlier type? Just
> an early freeze and the growers are making the best of what happened?
>
> Does the freezing itself actually affect things?

Yes.  It brings out the sugars more.  But it
has to be grapes still on the vine.  Just taking
grapes and freezing them doesn't produce the
special quality that freezing on the vine
produces.

> Or is it just a matter
> of the juice being sweeter because the grapes
> have been growing longer?

No.  Not at all.  The freeze could come in
Sept. during the regular picking season and it
would create that special quality that eiswein
has.

> I assume that the freezing does play a role somehow, since otherwise
> there would be no difference between the spatlese and regularly picked
> grapes. Or is this just a marketing ploy?

No.  Not every year produces eiswein.

> Is there something special that happens when the grapes freeze on the
> vines versus being picked and then frozen, mechanically or otherwise?

Yes.  Just freezing doesn't do it.  It has to be frozen on the vine.

To make eiswein, the grapes are left on the vine
until after the first frost hits. These grapes
are harvested after being frozen in the vineyard
and then, while still frozen, they are pressed.
They must be picked early - before 10 a.m. During
both of these processes the temperature cannot
exceed -8 degrees C. At this temperature (-8
degrees C) the berries will freeze as hard as
marbles. While the grape is still in its frozen
state, it is pressed and the water is driven out
as shards of ice. This leaves a highly
concentrated juice, very high in acids, sugars and aromatics.

> "Eiswein" sounds German. Are there non-German
> wines made with frozen grapes?

Canada is experimenting in making eiswein.

However, just to clarify things.  Lorenz has the
order of German wines mixed up.

Here is the order of German wines by their
sweetness and their picking.  The earliest are
the driest.

Taflwein [table wine]
Kabinet wein [that which is better and goes into the cabinet.]
Spätlese [meaning later than regular harvest]
Auslese [meaning even later than regular harvest]
Berenauslese [meaning really late harvest]
Trockenberenauslese [meaning very, very late harvest]

Eiswein is a special wein unto itself, because
it requires the frost and doesn't have to be
late harvest.  Eiswein has a special sweetness
that is very different from the above.  The
trockenberenauslese has a raisiny taste to it,
but again is very different from raisin wine.

Huette

Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 04:02:31 -0500
From: Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Eiswein
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> Canada is experimenting in making eiswein.

I've gotta interject here :-)
I believe one could say we're past the experimenting stage, since many
of our ice wines are now receiving critical acclaim rivaling some of the
German ones.  Local production means better prices for me too, so I'm
not complaining (hee, hee, nudge nudge, wink, wink).

At one of our Coronets, some of the visiting Americans _loaded_ up on
Canadian wines (including Ice Wines) and prayed they wouldn't get
searched at the border!

Faerisa

Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:20:06 -0700
From: Lorenz Wieland <lorenz_wieland at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Eiswein
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> However, just to clarify things.  Lorenz has the
> order of German wines mixed up.

Indeed I did.  For some reason, "auslese" and "kabinett" got turned
around in my head.  Thanks for the correction.  I was also incorrect in
that officially eisweins can only be made from grapes of beerenauslese
or trockenbeerenauslese ripeness, although apparently some producers
still make eiswein from grapes of lesser ripeness (they just can't call
it "eiswein" in Germany; anyone know what term they use instead?).

I'll also return the favor and expand a bit on your list, as you missed
qualitatswein (QbA), which should have been between tafelwein and
kabinett.  The wines from kabinett onwards are categorized as
"qualitatswein mit pradikat" (QmP).

Another weird twist with German wines is that the ripeness over
over-ripeness of the grape isn't always a reliable guide to how sweet
the resulting wine is, unlike vintages from French or American
wineries.  Kabinett, spatlese, and auslese wines can all be made dry
(trocken or classic) or off-dry (halbtrocken or selection), so it's
possible to find auslese wines that are dryer than kabinett wines.

-Lorenz

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	Eiswein-msg	 of