In terms of sweetness and complexity, Niagara Peninsula VQA late-harvest wines fall between medium-dry table wines and icewine. For late-harvest wines, grapes are left on the vines later into autumn to ripen to their fullest. Grape clusters can be left to dry on the vines or picked and dried indoors ( appissimento ), becoming dessicated and raisin-like to some degree. Late-harvest wines are not usually as complex as icewines, but they are full of honey, deep fruit flavors, and floral bouquets. Many late-harvest wines are used as dessert wines, because of their relatively high sugar content.
Many Niagara wineries produce excellent late-harvest wines - most commonly vidal and riesling (Niagara's signature wine) and, to a lesser extent, cabernet-franc and gewurztraminer. Like icewine, late-harvest wines are bottled in tall, thin, 200-ml or 375-ml bottles, but are half the price of icewine.