Niagara College students brave frigid temps for ice wine harvest

Students at Niagara College braved the snow today to learn about what goes into harvesting the grapes used in making ice wine.

Fifty pupils from the school’s viticulture, beverage business and brewing programs all joined forces to pick an acre of Vidal grapes at the school’s teaching winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Before the harvest can begin, temperatures need to fall below a certain threshold — otherwise, the grapes might not meet the strict requirements set out by the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA).

Craig Youdale, Dean of Culinary, Tourism, and Beverage Studies at Niagara College, says the school has been watching the weather very closely in anticipation of the ideal temperature.

“The exact time of day, the exact time of hour … It needs to fit a perfect window,” he says. “Legal standards is minus 8 [but] it can go a little colder than that.”

READ MORE: Frigid temperatures creating ideal conditions for Niagara ice wine harvest

“That’s the base minimal for us to pick grapes,” says Joel Droogh a second-year student at Niagara College. “Last year, we couldn’t do it because we got a cold front right before Christmas, so we were all on the break.”

He says while you have to bundle up, the temperature wasn’t bad.

Local winemaker Allison Findlay says the process for handling the ice wine grapes differs from a regular harvest.

“After the grapes are picked, they’re pressed while still frozen,” she says. “This leaves the water behind in the grape and extracts that nice sugar and concentrate of acidity, which we use to make a nice, sweet dessert wine.”