Friday, 21st December 2018

Perhaps a bottle of frozen wine with your turkey?

Harvesting grapes always conjures up warm images of farmers waiting until late summer to ensure that their carefully tended grapes have received the optimum anount of sun before they are harvested before temperatures start to fall.

However, Vineyards in Savoie (Anvergne-Rhône-Alpes) have just started to harvest their grapes, and this is intentional, they aren’t just a bit behind their Bordeaux collegues!

Late December, as winter deepens, farmers of vineyards in Savoie rise in the early hours of the morning when temperatures are barely above freezing to pick the Jacquère grape whilst it is still frozen on the vine.

The grapes remain frozen as they are pressed and will stay below 3 decgrees C for the next 24 hours.

Then the frozen grapes and their juice are suspended from a helicopter and are flown high up into the dizzy altitudes of Mount Blanc where they are frozen for a second time.

This process of double freezing results in a highly concentrated, high sugar wine which I guess (and I am guessing!..) gives a higher alcoholic content.

This wine is very expensive and is not destined for our supermarket shelves!