Reading in sub-zero temperatures: Not pleasant, but necessary to get ice wine. The first real frost made this possible this year, which makes winemakers and ice wine lovers happy!
Around 20 winegrowers from the Neusiedl am See, Eisenstadt and Eisenstadt surrounding areas were on ice-cold duty during the night from Sunday to Monday. Everywhere the temperatures fell low enough that the grapes that were still hanging on the vines froze completely. And that in turn is the basic requirement for ice wine. “According to the law, for an ice wine the grapes must be harvested and processed while still frozen,” explains winery inspector Werner Thell. This creates thick and sweet wines that taste particularly good. One person who spent the night working to achieve this is Julius Hafner from Mönchhof. He is particularly pleased that not only the “normal” Furmint variety was harvested this year, but also a red ice wine of the “Blaufränkisch” variety. “The last time we had that was six years ago,” he says. In recent years the ice wine harvest has always been at the end of January or even in February. “The reds don’t have much left on the vine,” says Hafner. It’s all the more pleasing that the first real frost this year has produced an ice wine. The quality is top and the quantity is also more than pleasing. “I prepared two reading trolleys and needed four,” says Hafner happily. With the amount you are where you were in the 1970s. Even if Hafner doesn’t assume that this will be the case in the coming years, he says: “Everything went well this year and we are happy that we were able to complete the harvest in 2023.” By the way: The Hafners’ ice wine is – like that many of their wines – kosher.
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