This was the moment local wine makers were waiting for.
The mercury started falling on Sunday morning and the decision was made to go ahead with the harvest of grapes for ice wine.
More than two dozen volunteers got the job done and this year's crop was better than expected.
“We need a two or three day window of minus eight to ten which can be hard to achieve which is part of the risk of doing ice wine,” says Greg Ardiel of Georgian Hills Vineyard.
Two thirds of the water in the grapes is trapped as ice when temperatures get this cold. When pressed the grapes produce a sweet, syrupy juice, which is made into wine.
“It's really good growing lots of heat units. Not only that the fall was warm and really conducive to high sugars,” says John Ardiel.
Last year there was no harvest. There weren't many grapes and the weather was uncooperative.
This year’s crop will be ready for tasting this time next year.
