As winter wears on in the Finger Lakes with this snowy Monday, our FLX Foodie Photo of the week aims to highlight a positive of the frigid weather: conditions to make ice wine!
Today’s FLX Foodie Photo of the Week shows award-winning winemaker Ian Barry, who also makes wine for Barry Family Cellars, harvesting Riesling grapes that will be made into a 2021 ice wine for Buttonwood Grove Winery in Romulus.
As our Wine of the Week writer Richy Petrina (of Ithaca Wine Ventures) described in a recent review of Sheldrake Point’s Riesling Ice Wine, making this dessert wine using the traditional method involves leaving some grapes on the vine during the normal fall harvest until it is cold enough for the water inside each grape to freeze. Then the grape clusters are carefully harvested while they are still frozen, often on a very chilly and early morning. Della Hovanec was helping Ian Barry harvest Riesling grapes to make ice wine the recent January morning she snapped this photo.
After grapes are harvested to make ice wine, they are taken back to a winery where they are slowly pressed at a high pressure with temperatures still below freezing. The wine that results from this process is a golden nectar with intense sweetness, acidity, and other complex flavors. It can be a wonderful dessert all on its own or paired with lighter fare such as sliced cheese and fruits.
If you are a professional photographer and you would like to have a video or photo featured for an upcoming FLX Foodie Photo of the Day article, please send it along with a short description to shannon@ediblefingerlakes.com. We look forward to featuring your work!
