In the freezing cold, employees of the Schloss Proschwitz winery picked frozen grapes for ice wine on Wednesday morning in the historic terraced vineyard in Seusslitz near Meissen. Almost 20 employees and the Saxon wine queen Sabrina Papperitz did not miss the rare event. Because of the milder winters in the past, according to the announcement, there was an ice wine harvest in Saxony’s largest private winery ten years ago. This requires temperatures of at least minus 7 degrees Celsius over several days.
The grapes, which were collected within an hour and a half from 6 a.m., were immediately pressed by the cellar masters in order to obtain a concentrated elixir for the noble sweet wine of special quality. The rarity coveted by wine connoisseurs has to mature for several months after fermentation.
