Abstract:

In the 1990s, ice wine was added to the popular products of wine makers in the Czech Republic, who receive awards at international wine competitions. Although the Czech Republic is not one of the world’s wine powers in terms of viticulture, wines from Bohemia and Moravia are considered to be of high quality and are currently successful at many of the world’s wine competitions. Ice wine is considered by experts to be a real delicacy, characterized by a very sweet taste, full body, high extract, most often with fruit and honey tones or with tones of caramel, and a relatively low alcohol content. Ice wine is not intended for everyday drinking. It is drunk alone as an aperitif or consumed together with sweet desserts. The oldest known mention of the production of ice wine comes from the pen of the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder, who lived in the first century AD. He noted that some wine makers were waiting until the grapes froze to make wine. Grapes for ice wine are most often harvested early in the morning, when there is the greatest frost. It is necessary for these grapes to be in the vineyard for at least two days at a temperature of not more than -7 degrees Celsius before being harvested. The aim of this article is to express the current state of ice wine production in the Czech Republic and the main problems related to its production, especially in the conditions of ongoing climate change.