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Preparing for Icewine

Sunday, December 3, 2023

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Grapes on a vine. It is winter, there are no more leaves on the vines and there is some snow on the ground, although there is still more grass than snow visible. Some grapes are already affected by botrytis and have dried up, while others are still healthy and full of juice.
Sämling grapes before the frost.

Tonight it’s getting serious! We are preparing for the icewine harvest. It’s not sure whether it will really be cold enough, it needs to be -7° C at least. But tonight is probably the only opportunity to harvest icewine this year. And of course we don’t want to miss it!

So out to the vineyard to remove the bird nets. The starlings have gone south by now and are no longer eating our grapes, so what the heck. There’s no Sunday at harvest time anyway.


A vineyard in winter. The grape area of the vines is covered with blue bird netting. A person is removing the nets in preparation for the upcoming icewine harvest. Frost on the ground, no more leaves on the vines and trees are visible in the background.
We're removing the bird nets

Now the grapes are hanging freely and we are waiting for the frost. At 9 pm it’s already -3.5° C and falling. So we go to bed early, and continue at 4am. Drive out to the vineyard, check whether it’s cold enough and if the grapes are frozen. If so, off we go - stay tuned as the saying goes!

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