About two dozen employees and volunteers spent this morning hand-picking grapes at Mazza Vineyards in North East.
Normally the grapes would be used to make ice wine. But conditions have been too warm this winter to call it true ice wine, so it will be sold as a "faux"ice wine.
Four to five tons of Vidal Blanc grapes were left on the vines, long after the fall harvest. And despite the lack of a deep freeze, the picking was necessary now to avoid rot and losing most of the grapes to hungry birds.
Winemaker Bob Mazza says the taste of the wine bottled from these grapes will be very close to a true ice wine.
He said, "The difference is going to indistinguishable because the grapes have been dehydrated. This was an extended period of time the grapes have been on the vines. So really the average person or even someone with a sophisticated palate would not really be able to tell the difference between this and a true ice wine."
Mazza Vineyards has been making ice wine since 1984.
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