The first grapes for ice wine were picked in the early hours of the 17th of January. Thus, the vintage will not go down in history as a complete loss in terms of ice wine.

Both in Franken and in Baden, pickers moved out in the night from last Monday to Tuesday. Producers who brought in grapes include the Reiss estate in Unterdürrbach, or on the Kaiserstuhl mountain, where the Königschaffhausen cooperative succeeded in bringing in frozen grapes. In other parts of Germany, the levels of frost were not yet severe enough to comply with the German legal requirements for the production of ice wine. As the weather forecast for the near future indicates there will be no more severe frost, the few ice wines available from the 2011 vintage could become real rarities. (WF)