Icewine is made from grapes that must be frozen when they're harvested, a process that usually takes place during the Christmas holidays.
While most Nova Scotians have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather, John Warner has his fingers crossed that it will soon turn cold – very cold.
Anything below -8 would make him happy.
That's because Mr. Warner is the largest grower of icewine grapes in the province, and the grapes must be frozen when they're harvested.
The resulting juice that comes out of the presses is sweet, aromatic and thick as honey.
That juice is then sold to the wineries in the province that make icewine, a product increasing in popularity every year.
Icewine grapes are usually harvested during the Christmas holidays, but with no real cold weather forecast for the next several days, the harvest may be delayed until after the new year.
Growers faced a similar delay last year.
"We didn't harvest until mid-January last year," Mr. Warner said Wednesday at his sprawling vineyards nestled into the slopes of the North Mountain in Lakeville, Kings County.
Warner Vineyards grows 20 hectares of grapes for local wineries, with three hectares devoted to Vidal icewine grapes.
Although last year's harvest was delayed a couple of weeks, the grapes were still in good shape. The longer they're on the vine, the higher the risk of them being eaten by hungry birds, becoming dehydrated or buried in heavy snow.
"They did just fine," Mr. Warner said. "They're a pretty resilient grape."
This year's grapes are also going into winter in good shape and will be able to hang on into January, he added.
He has his mechanical harvester and a crew ready to go as soon as the temperatures drop low enough to freeze the grapes. The harvest usually takes place through the night.
On Tuesday, the temperature dropped to -10 overnight, and the crew and harvester were in the vineyard and ready to go. But it wasn't cold long enough to freeze the grapes and the harvest was postponed.