World Class Icewines
Originally developed in the cool wine regions of Germany in the mid-1700s, Icewine is ideally suited to the Niagara peninsula and the Okanagan Valley's climatic conditions. Grapes are left on the vine well into the winter months. The resulting freezing and thawing of the grapes dehydrates the fruit, and concentrates the sugars, acids, and extracts in the berries, thereby intensifying the flavours and adding complexity to the wine made from it.
Genuine icewine must follow VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) regulations that prohibit any artificial freezing of grapes. The grapes are painstakingly picked by hand in their natural frozen state, ideally at temperatures of -10 to -13 degrees C -- sometimes the picking must be done at night to take advantage of the temperature. Yields are very low, often as little as 5-10 percent of normal.
The frozen grapes are pressed in the extreme cold. The water in the juice remains frozen as ice crystals, and only a few drops of sweet concentrated juice is obtained. This juice is then fermented very slowly for several months, stopping naturally.
The finished icewine is intensely sweet and flavorful in the initial mouth sensation. The balance is achieved by the acidity, which gives a clean, dry finish. The nose of icewine recalls lychee nuts. The wine tastes of tropical fruits, with shadings of peach nectar and mango.
Icewine is winter's gift to the wine lover: one of the best-kept secrets of the wine world that garners gold medals in virtually every competition in which it is entered.
The greatest of international accolade for Canadian Icewine was bestowed on Inniskillin 1989 Icewine at Vinexpo, Bordeaux, in June 1991. This wine, judged by an international panel, was accorded the fair's highest award, Le Grand Prix d'Honneur.
About Inniskillin
On July 31, 1975,
Inniskillin Wines incorporated and its founders Karl J. Kaiser and myself, Donald J.P. Ziraldo, were granted the first winery licence in Ontario, Canada, since 1929.
Established in Niagara-on-the-Lake and taking its name from the early history of the area, Inniskillin was founded upon and dedicated to the principle of producing and bottling outstanding wines from select wine grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula.
In 1971, I received my degree in Agriculture from the University of Guelph, after which I operated a family nursery specializing in fruit trees and grapevines. Karl, a native of Austria, had moved to Canada after meeting and marrying his Canadian wife, Silvia. He had a degree in Chemistry from Brock University and had begun experimenting with home winemaking.
One fateful day, Karl bought some French hybrid grapevines from me at the nursery and, some time afterward, we shared a bottle of Karl's home-made wine. After a lot of dreaming and talking, we decided to apply for a wine licence. None had been issued since 1929.
The late General George Kitching, Chairman, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, shared our vision of "a premium estate winery producing varietal wines from grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula," and with his assistance, Inniskillin was born. We owe a debt of gratitude to this very insightful individual.
The first Inniskillin winery was housed in an old packing shed at the family nursery, two kilometres (km) from our current location.
The name Inniskillin is Irish and is derived from the famous Irish regiment, the Inniskilling Fusiliers. Colonel Cooper, a member of this regiment, served in North America in the War of 1812. On completion of his military service, he was granted Crown land which he named the Inniskillin Farm.
We were on our way.
As we grew, we needed more space, and in 1978, we relocated to our present site, The Brae Burn Estate.
In building the new winery at Brae Burn we wanted to combine our experience with those of both the Old and New World wine regions to create an estate winery that would harmonize architecturally with the natural and historic surroundings and create a Canadian character. The winery was designed by Raphaele Belvedere, a local architect, to allow our technological needs to blend with the historic environment of our site. It is adjacent to the existing Inniskillin vineyards, planted in 1974 by myself, and now known as the Seeger vineyard. The result, we believe, is a fine marriage of purpose, function and aesthetics.
