Which statement about ice wine production is true?

• A. It can only be produced in a few regions where weather conditions allow
• B. Vines used must be winter hardy and produce grapes with resilient skins
• C. Freeze-thaw cycles are thought to be important for the development of typical ice wine character
• D. Harvesting grapes in the middle of summer is essential

Answer: (D)

Ice wine relies on grapes freezing while still on the vine, concentrating sugars and acids. This requires truly cold weather over a period, so only regions with reliably freezing winters can produce it. Harvesting in the middle of summer would not allow the grapes to freeze on the vine, so that idea isn’t correct. The defining factor isn’t freeze–thaw cycles or just winter-hardy vines; it’s the climate that enables natural on-vine freezing. That’s why ice wine production is limited to a few regions where winter temperatures reliably drop well below freezing.