Harvesting of ice wine

On Monday, December 4, 2023, we picked frozen grapes for icewine around 5am. We picked grapes of the Veltlínské zelené (Grüner Veltliner) variety on the top vineyard in Dolní Dunajovice with an area of 1.5 hectares.

The way to the production of ice wine is very long, "thorny" and with uncertain results. "Even if everything goes well in the vineyard and you still have healthy grapes in the vineyard at the end of November and someone doesn't steal them, the winemaker is far from winning. Because if there is no frost, at least minus 7C°, the winemaker is out of luck. Or rather, if the required frost comes, the winemaker who has remained patient enough is lucky." says David Št'astný.

"Our experience is that the right frost for icewine production usually comes at the beginning of December. This was also the case this year. However, we haven't seen such a warm start to winter for almost 30 years. To have leaves still on the vines on the first of December is a rarity indeed. We harvested almost 8 000 kg at a temperature of -12°C, from which we pressed approximately 2 000 litres of 'ice' must. The ice wine is then bottled in special 0.2 litre bottles, of which there will be approximately 10 000 bottles from this year's harvest. During the pressing of the first litres we measured a sugar content of over 40° CNM!", says David Št'astný.

Wine lovers will have to wait two to three years for this year's vintage, which has excellent quality. However, we currently have the Ice Wine from the 2018 vintage on offer.

Ryzlink vlašský 0,2 LEDOVÉ VÍNO 2018