Ice wine harvested – On an icy mission in the vineyards

About twenty winegrowers from Neusiedl am See, Eisenstadt and the surrounding areas of Eisenstadt had freezing service during the night from Sunday to Monday. Everywhere the temperature dropped so low that the grapes still hanging on the vines froze completely. And that is the basic requirement for ice wine.

“By law, the grapes for ice wine must be harvested and processed while they are still frozen,” explains winemaker inspector Werner Thell. This creates thick and sweet wines that taste particularly delicious.

One person who fought for this all night is Julius Hafner from Mönchhof. He is particularly pleased that this year not only the ‘normal’ Furmint variety was harvested, 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 always took place at the end of January or even in February. “The Reds don’t have much left to hold on to,” Hafner said.

It is all the more gratifying that the first real frost this year has produced ice wine. The quality is top and the quantity is also more than pleasant. “I had prepared two reading carts and needed four,” Hafner says happily. The amount puts you where you were in the 1970s. Although Hafner does not expect this to be the case in the coming years, he says: “This year everything went well and we are happy that we were able to complete the harvest in 2023.”

By the way: The Hafners’ ice wine is – like many of their wines – kosher.