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Ice wine is a dessert wine made from frozen grapes still on the vine.  It is known as Eiswein in Germany.  Since the grapes must be frozen on the vine, there are only a few places in the world where this wine can be produced.  Besides Germany, the best ice wines are also made in Canada.  The lesser quality ice wines can be found in Australia, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United States.

Natural ice wines require a hard freeze some time after the grape has ripened.  In Canada and Germany, the hard freeze must reach a certain temperature, -8 C in Canada and -7 C in Germany.  Since Canada has the most consistent winters, Canada has become the largest producer of ice wines.  The reason ice wines are so expensive is that if the hard freeze does not come before the grapes rot, an entire crop may be lost.  Germany has been known to go through several years without producing an ice wine.  Simple supply and demand can drive the price to $80 USD or more for a single 375 ml bottle.  The Royal DeMaria 2000 Chardonnay produced by an Ontario winemaker resulted in only 5 cases of wine (60 bottles).  Each bottle of the Chardonnay sold for $30,000 USD.