KEWAUNEE (NBC 26) — With these cold temperatures, it’s perfect climate for some area wineries.
Did you know Wisconsin is one of the few places in the world where authentic ice wine is made?
“Out here is a vineyard that was planted in 2005”, said Steve Johnson, owner of Parallel 44 Vineyard and Winery in Kewaunee.
It's a rare specialty that Johnson says it's not just a wine you can easily get your hands on.
Wisconsin one of the few places across the globe where this authentic ice wine can be grown and produced.
“Most of wine country aren’t in a region where you get those temperatures, so this is a pride that’s confined in Wisconsin, Ontario, British Columbia and maybe once in ten years in Germany", Johnson said.
And it’s all thanks to these frostbitten grapes in the middle of winter.
“It changes your perception of wine by standing in the snow and actually drinking it”, Johnson said.
These freezing temperatures, a blessing in disguise as Johnson said it's only considered ice wine if the grapes are harvested after they freeze on the vine.
“You need to have three consecutive days where it doesn’t get above 15 before you’re harvest them and then you press them while they’re frozen. So literally you press ice crystals out of each grape berries and you’re left with a little drop of maple syrup that comes out of each grape....", Johnson said.
And while these blistery temperatures very much help with the making of ice wine, Johnson says a big part of the success has to also do with the vineyard’s location and it's close proximity to Lake Michigan.
“Our soil is what we call glacier til soil, which is what was left after the glacier receded ten thousand years ago when the Great Lakes were form so our soil is filled with stone, gravel, silk, clay and the very mixture of the soil and less fertility leads to a more expressive wine”, Johnson said.
If you’re interested in sampling this ice wine, Parallel 44 will be having vineyard walks each Saturday throughout the month of February.
For more information click herefor details.
The winery actually had plans for their first event on Saturday but due to the extreme cold and wind chills below zero they had to unfortunately cancel.
“I mean I’m used to being out in the cold, but to make it really enjoyable where we can sit and talk and actually sample the wine. We figured 20 below is going to be too hard even though we’re pretty hard people here in Wisconsin. We just wanted to make sure it was an enjoyable experience", Johnson said.
