Ice Cider: Success or Flop?

During the last class, we touched briefly on the concept of "ice cider" - ice wine, but using apples instead of grapes.  I had never heard of ice cider before, so decided to check it out.  Is this competitor to wine new, or with a long history? Is it actually a threat, or a fad? Here's what I found:

According to Beverage Daily, ice cider was first produced in Quebec in 1989 using the concept of traditional ice wine (thanks, Inniskillin!).  There are two potential methods used to make ice cider; in cryoconcentration, apples are picked in the fall, then frozen outside and juiced in the winter, whereas in cryoextraction the fruit is picked frozen off the vine. The finishing product can come in still or sparkling form, and is often bottled in either tall, slender bottles a la ice wine (as seen below) or in a champagne-style bottle.  




















Ice cider is riding off the popularity of generic alcoholic cider, which is growing faster than the alcohol market.  Though generally still consumed by western Europe, cider is exploding in Eastern Europe, which could also be a great market for ice cider.  The graph below shows 5 year growth rates for overall cider consumption across countries.

Despite the fact that ice cider is still niche in the U.S., certain producers such as Eden Specialty Cider in Vermont are also starting to pick up the trend.  A bottle of ice cider from Eden costs $30 for 375 mL and is generally served in "slender stemmed goblets on special occasions", according to NPR.  Despite the growth in demand, the main challenge facing ice cider producers is, in fact, finding enough ice.  As temperatures in certain regions warm, climates that are both warm enough to grow apples but cold enough to produce ice cider are hard to find.  For this reason, my prediction is that ice cider will likely continue to be a niche product, at least in North America.  

Perhaps producers in the Czech Republic or Romania will pick up the torch on ice cider, but for now I'm putting my money on good old-fashioned ice wine to keep carrying the avant-garde dessert wine category.

Sources:
https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2019/03/19/30-years-of-Canadian-ice-cider-draws-international-attention
https://aicv.org/files/attachments/.74/AICV_Cider_Trends_2019.pdf
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/10/287389633/the-upside-of-all-this-cold-a-boom-in-iced-cider