Members Area - Processes

Late Harvest and Icewine Procedures

Make sure you are familiar with the rules and procedures for Late Harvest and Icewine before the season starts. Failure to register grapes or provide the required information when due can mean the difference between your juice/wine being eligible to be labelled Icewine or not. Protect yourself – make sure the VQA requirements are met and you have the documents you need before you take delivery of grapes or juice that you purchase.

Make sure all forms are properly filled out and submitted. See directions on the right side of this page for correct procedures.

Do not blend tanks of juice originating from more than one lot of registered grapes before getting the Brix test results from EDM Associates.

Make sure the juice recorded on harvest forms comes only from grapes registered on the linked registration record. You may create as many harvest records as needed for each lot of grapes registered. Do not create a single “batch” from juice from grapes from two or more registration ID numbers – until after you have recorded and registered each harvest volume. Each grape registration ID must result in at least one batch of juice matching the tonnes and acres specified.

All juice intended for Icewine must be pressed within 7 days of harvest. In the case of extended low temperatures that prevent timely pressing, please contact the VQA offices to discuss exceptions. No exceptions will be permitted without written permission.

All frozen grapes must be weighed – this is not a new requirement but has been in effect since before VQA Ontario was established. Do not “guess” at the weight of your grapes – the number needs to be accurate. VQAO will be using this data to assess whether to accept or reject juice for Icewine status.

For juice purchasers:

It is the purchaser’s responsibility to ensure that the required information has been filed with VQA Ontario and that all VQA requirements are met if they are purchasing late harvest grapes or juice for VQA wines. If a complete electronic file is not available or verifiable at the time the wine is submitted for approval, it will be rejected. In the case of an existing approval, it could be withdrawn. You may want to include a statement in your purchase agreement that the juice must be eligible for VQA. Ask for the printout of the purchase form or contact the VQA office directly to confirm.

To get your wine approved, you will need the following for all components of the wine:

a printout of the Delivery/Purchase record(s) for all juice used in the wine

VQA Ontario will verify the submission against information recorded by EDM Associates and audit information. We will also verify that the reported yields are reasonable.

For non-winery growers:

Icewine juice that remains in the possession of a non-VQA member for more than 7 days after pressing will be subject to VQA audit if the owner wishes to maintain its VQA eligibility. Growers retaining juice beyond 7 days for speculation must notify VQA Ontario and an audited letter of transfer will be required to verify and document the sale and transfer of juice after that time. No transfer form is needed for processors who are delivering juice pressed from grapes owned by the receiving winery.

If you do not notify us – the juice will lose its status! Please make a note to remind yourself of this requirement at pressing time.
Wines will not be eligible for VQA status if the documentation is not available, not complete, not correctly filled in or does not match independent test results.

You will be invoiced for monitoring services on a cost-recovery basis, in direct proportion to the number of brix tests conducted for you. All invoices will be sent to the grower or winery who registered the grapes. VQA Ontario will not re-invoice third party purchasers.

Plan ahead to ensure compliance!

Filling Out Online Forms

All VQA member wineries and registered growers have been issued a login ID and password. Please contact VQA if you forget your login ID or password or have not been issued one. Keep your password confidential and safe.

Logon to VQA Ontario's Member Services website and select the Icewine Monitoring Service (IMS).

Part 1 – Grape Registration – due by November 15

Complete one electronic form for each block of grapes (same grape variety, same owner, same vineyard). You may choose to split one variety into several blocks if selling to different buyers.
Please take care to fill in the form accurately and completely. All mandatory information must be provided - otherwise the submission will be rejected.
Look for your vineyard in the pulldown list. If you cannot find it, you will have to create a profile using the “vineyard” button. We recommend you include the variety name in the name of the vineyard eg. Smith Vineyard Cab Franc since you will need to create a separate vineyard name for each variety.
Print a copy of the completed form for your records.
You can re-enter the site at any time and review your entries to date but you cannot change any entries after November 15. Wineries registering contracted grapes are encouraged to complete the registration forms. The same person (member ID) must complete all forms from grape registration through to harvest and pressing.

Part 2 – Harvest & Pressing – due no later than 30 days after harvest (up to April 30)

Call EDM Associates (Errol McKibbon) at 905-933-2131 when picking begins and to test the brix for each batch. Ensure proper registration ID numbers are recorded with the test results. A batch can be any amount of grapes harvested from a single vineyard block (a single registration number).
If you are repressing for late harvest, please create a harvest form for each repressing. In these cases you may show more than 100% of the tonnes/ acres being harvested. This is acceptable for Late Harvest repressing.
Please do not mix grapes from several different vineyards in the same batch. If you are repressing grapes from several locations into a single batch or tank, please record the relevant information including ID numbers on the paper form provided for repressing.
After harvest, record harvest and pressing details each batch of grapes pressed. The juice reported in part 2 must come from the grapes registered in part 1.