Why is ice wine expensive?

Date: 2014-01-22 From: Print Font size: LargeMediumSmall


Preciousness of ice wine mainly lies in its lower yield, high risks, technique requirements and contents. The following is a clutch of data: (1) Lower yield of frozen grapes: restricted by terrestrial conditions, only several small areas can produce ice wine in the world. (2) Low juice yield: the juice yield of frozen grapes only lingers around 20%, while that of grapes for common wine is 70%. (3) Smaller percentage of yield: the yield of ice wine only accounts for 1/30000 of the global wine yield. That is to say, only one bottle wine among 30000 bottles of wine in the world is ice wine! Moreover, production of ice wine is a high-risk investment, since grapes used for ice wine need to be very mature and sugar degree of grape juice after juice squeezing needs to reach 35Brix per liter (i.e. sugar degree of grape juice is 350g/L). In addition, weather condition is an important factor for ensuring ice wine yield. Only when temperature declines to below -8℃ and stays for 12 hours can grapes be picked manually. Since grapes for ice wine must be picked at 3 or 4 a.m., the coldest time in a day, grapes for ice wine need to be picked overnight, thus requiring high cost and manpower input. In terms of raw material, the production of ice wine is just like a gambling game with high risks. Moreover, processing and fermentation techniques greatly differ from that of common wine. Different production conditions, special technique requirements and high technological contents determine that the price of ice wine is bound to be higher.