View source for Ice-wine

'''Ice-wine''' is a special kind of dessert [[wine]] made from [[grapes]] which have been allowed to over-ripen and then freeze solid on the vine during a hard frost.  The grapes are hand-harvested before dawn on the first night of the freeze, lest they thaw, ruining the grape.  The grapes are then carefully pressed while still frozen.  The juice which results from this pressing is extremely high in sugar and
low in [[water]] content (which remains as ice).

The juice is then fermented and becomes a sweet and delicate dessert wine, which is extremely [[expensive]] owing to both the labour-intensive harvest and the financial risk of leaving a sizable portion of the grape crop on the vine while [[gamble|gambling]] against an early cold snap, which may or may not come before the grapes [[rot]].

Ice-wine is a [[modern]] invention and was unknown in [[period]].  The
[[Canada|Canadian]] wine industry in the Niagara region (the [[SCA]]'s [[Barony of Rising Waters]]) is renowned for its ice-wine production.  

For this reason, ice-wine is highly esteemed by the [[noble]] [[lady|ladies]] of that Barony, and indeed the ladies of the whole [[Kingdom of Ealdormere]], especially when it is served in chilled [[silver]] [[goblets]] and accompanied by [[strawberry|strawberries]].  When served thusly, many [[SCAdian]] ladies swear that ice-wine is almost equal to the physical act of [[love]], and some claim it surpasses.

[[category:alcohol]]