New Canadian ice wine standard released

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

A new Canadian national ice wine standard specifies the drink must be made exclusively from grapes naturally frozen on the vine, the federal government says.

Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of Grape Growers of Ontario, says the standard ensures “the authenticity of grape wine production.” It means that wine makers wanting to label their products 100 per cent VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) ice wine have to make the product from grapes naturally frozen on the vine. Wine makers who clip grapes and freeze them while they’re sitting on a net can’t call their product ice wine.

The standard ensures “there’s no manipulation going on,” she says, and that in turn assures the international community ice wine from Canada is 100 per cent authentically produced.

The definition of how ice wine is made “will demonstrate the ice wine produced in Canada meets international standards,” according to the government’s Feb. 12 press release on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website.

The regulations are effective from the Jan. 29 date they were registered but they were just posted on Canada Gazette, Part II on Feb. 12. In addition to creating the new standard, the government’s regulatory amendments will change the way information is displayed on wine containers and includes minor amendments to the Food and Drug regulations plus the Consumer Packaging and Labelling regulations, the release says.

Zimmerman says “we’ve been very involved in all of this discussion with them (the federal government) for a number of years, trying to get this regulation imposed so the industry could have standards that meet world class standards.”

Ice wine is a premium product “and we can’t afford have the product diminished in any way by practices that don’t help our reputation internationally,” she says. BF