🍷 Cryoextraction
Artificial freezing of grapes in a cold chamber to make the juice sweeter.
Cryoextraction is the artificial freezing of grapes to make the juice sweeter. The grapes are placed in a fridge or freezer. The water in the berries turns to ice, while sugar and flavour compounds stay in the liquid. When the frozen grapes are pressed, concentrated sweet juice runs out. The ice stays in the press.
The technique was devised to produce sweet wines in years when frost did not come or the grapes had not dried enough. It is used, for example, in France for some sweet wines in areas such as Sauternes.
Do not confuse it with true icewine. For that, the berries freeze on the vine in natural frost. In Canada and Germany artificial freezing is not permitted for icewine, and the name is protected by law. So wine made by cryoextraction is not called icewine.
The method belongs to French wine, where it has long been used, and is close to the idea of icewine.
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Ice wine
- Related to
- 🗺️ French wine
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Ice wine
Frequently asked questions
What is cryoextraction?
Artificial freezing of grapes so that pressing gives a sweeter, more concentrated juice.
Are cryoextraction and icewine the same?
No. For icewine the grapes freeze naturally on the vine, while in cryoextraction they are frozen artificially.
Why use cryoextraction?
To make sweet wines in years when natural frost did not arrive.
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