[Sca-cooks] Eiswein

[Stefan li Rous]

Lorenz answered me with:
> Harris Mark.S-rsve60 wrote:
> > I thought Eiswein was made from late season grapes and not a special
> > grape. But yes, starting with a more sugary juice would have an 
> effect
> > after being boiled down. But I've wanted to try Eiswein after the
> > comments about it here and stayed away from buying a bottle because 
> of
> > the cost. To pay those prices and then boil it down... Ouch!
>
> Eiswein is made from frozen grapes.  It can be made from any one of
> several grape varieties and either normal harvest (auslese) or late
> harvest (spätlese).
This is the first time I've heard it mentioned that there might be two 
types of Eiswein. I assume the spatlese variety is sweeter because it 
has been on the vine longer? Why would you have the earlier type? Just 
an early freeze and the growers are making the best of what happened?

Does the freezing itself actually affect things? Or is it just a matter 
of the juice being sweeter because the grapes have been growing longer? 
I assume that the freezing does play a role somehow, since otherwise 
there would be no difference between the spatlese and regularly picked 
grapes. Or is this just a marketing ploy? Is there something special 
that happens when the grapes freeze on the vines versus being picked 
and then frozen, mechanically or otherwise?

"Eiswein" sounds German. Are there non-German wines made with frozen 
grapes?

Thanks,
    Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****