The brutal cold of a Southwestern Michigan winter as it first spreads across the vineyards freezes the grapes into hard marbles, condensing the sweetness and producing, once pressed, a rich sweet wine. Because temperatures must drop to the mid-teens or lower, the bounty of this harvest is known as ice wine.

Rosemary Zirille, tasting room manager at Hickory Creek Winery in Buchanan, Mich., said some wineries pick the grapes for ice wine after the first frost -- usually in September or October when the grapes can still be harvested by machine and then the grapes are frozen after picking. "But we wait until the grapes freeze on the vine which means that they need to be handpicked and they usually first freeze when the temperature drops at night."

According to Zirille, that means bundling up in snowmobile suits and laboriously picking the frozen  grapes -- that's a lot of work when you're picking a ton, which is how many are needed to produce 60 cases of wine.

But picking doesn't end the evening's labors.

"Then you have to get them back to the winery, press off the wine crystals and put them in a stainless tank," continued Zirille.  "They have to be pressed before the sun comes up so that they don't thaw out."

Think of holding a snow cone in your hand and squeezing the flavoring out suggests Katie Maurer who, with her husband Wally, owns Domaine Berrien Cellars in Oronoko Township near Berrien Springs, in describing the processing of frozen grapes.

Maurer said ice wine originally started accidentally in Germany, back in the 1800s, when a hard cold hit the vineyards before the last of the grapes had been harvested. Besides being sweet, ice wine also has a higher alcohol content -- about 9 to 10 percent.

"We use a Cabernet Frac for our ice wine," says Maurer. "The grapes would make a red wine when picked in the fall during harvest time, but when making ice wine from the grapes, they come out a candy colored pink."

The labor intensive work adds to the cost of the wine, which ranges in price from $15 to almost $100 per 375-liter bottle. But, Zirille said you don't drink ice wine like you would a wine made from grapes harvested in the fall before they freeze. Instead you sip it as you would a dessert wine or a port.

Chris Moersch of Free Run Cellars in Berrien Springs said their ice wine, made with Vidal Blanc grapes, pairs well with acidic cheeses such as goat cheese or blue cheese.

"It needs a cheese that has a little sharpness to it for counter balance," he said. "But I always say you can skip the dessert and just drink the wine."

Fenn Valley Winery uses a Vidal Blanc grape for its offering, called 42 Ice Wine, because the grapes were grown on the 42nd parallel.

Owner Doug Welsch said 42 Ice Wine won Best in Show Dessert Wine at the 2009 Michigan Wine and Spirits Competition. The ice wine at Fenn Valley only costs $15 per bottle.

  "That's because we made 4,000 gallons of it," he said, noting they have a large stock despite having sold 1,500 gallons. He recommends serving the wine with a fruit compote or a piece of quality dark chocolate.

The Vidal Blanc Ice Wine at Warner Vineyards in Paw Paw, the second oldest winery in Michigan, won a gold medal in the 2009 Michigan Wine and Spirits competition.

"White ice wines are the most common," said Bill Warner. "There are only five varieties of grapes used for making ice wine and three of them -- Riesling, Vidal Blanc and Vignole -- are indigenous to Michigan."

Indiana's Ice Wine

Southern Indiana with its less rigorous winters doesn't produce as much ice wine as Michigan. But Butler Winery, which is based in Bloomington but has a store in Chesterton, offers their Vidal Blanc Ice Wine.

"We make 50 gallons a year," said Joe Butler, whose father James is the winemaker of this third oldest family owned winery in the state.

The grapes for their wine are picked after two consecutive nights of hard frost.

The winery also sells a late winter wine made from grapes picked after one night of freezing conditions which costs $17.95 per bottle compared to $45 for the ice wine.

"It's less expensive because you lose less of the crop after the first freeze compared to the second," said Butler, noting the wine is so sweet it doesn't need to be accompanied by a dessert.