Inniskillin Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Region, Canada | Winery

Welcome to Inniskillin Wines in Niagara on the Lake, Canada, a tale of two wineries, two regions, thousands of miles apart and vastly different as winemaking regions but united by a singular commitment to quality and innovation. In both Niagara on the Lake and the Okanagan, Inniskillin Wines offers a full collection of fine VQA wines made by dedicated winemakers and viticulturists committed to their craft. Building on that tradition, the adventure continues as Inniskillin Wines continues to play a vital role in exploring new frontiers in winemaking and appreciation while maintaining strategic partnerships and forging new initiatives in research, education and environmental responsibility.
It?s pure Niagara on the Lake legend. The tale of the unlikely odd couple that went on to become two of the founding fathers of Canadian Wine. Karl Kaiser, the studious, Austrian-born chemist, and Donald Ziraldo, the young Italian Canadian agriculture graduate, both grew up with wine at the family dinner table. While tasting Ontario Wines in the early 70?s, they realized a gap existed in the premium market segment. They seized the opportunity to fill that gap and set out to break new ground to produce premium varietal wines from premium grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula. Both Karl Kaiser and Donald Ziraldo believed their future in the wine business was dependent on using the Vitis vinifera grapes, the preferred family of grapes used to produce the fine wines in the great wine regions of the world. When sourcing these limited grapes became a challenge in the early 70?s, Ziraldo took the lead and planted a vinifera vineyard which included Riesling, Chardonnay and Gamay and formed the quality base for Kaiser to work with.
On July 31, 1975, Inniskillin Wines incorporated and its founders Karl J. Kaiser and Donald J.P. Ziraldo were granted the first Winery license in Ontario, Canada since prohibition.
Inniskillin Wines is proud to have continued to make great wines from two distinguished and distinct grape growing regions of Canada and to win awards and accolades for a full range of fine wines and stunning Icewine