Inniskillin


Is this the winery that put Canada on the world Map! It just might be. Inniskillin, co-founded by Donald J.P. Ziraldo and Karl J. Kaiser , in 1975. The winery is located in the town of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Canada, on the Niagara Peninsula. Inniskillin was granted the first estate winery license in Canada. 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.

In 1991 Inniskillin's 1989 icewine won Gold Grand Pix d'Honneur Show bringing Canadian wine to the attention of the WORLD.. Inniskillin Wines captured the top prize at the 17th Annual International Wine Competition at Vinitaly: "The Premio Speciale Gran Vinitaly 2009". The special prize for top producer at the show is considered to be the wine industry's "world cup". Vinitaly, held in Verona, is the largest and one of the most prestigious annual wine competitions, attracting the global wine elite. Inniskillin qualifies based on its performance of scores. For Inniskillin to take the top award of the show highlights Inniskillin's international reputation as a quality producer, and also has the wine world shifting its attention to Canada

Today name any award and most likely Inniskillin has won it, from winery of the Year to Winemaker of the year, Gold after Gold. Inniskillin is a household name.

Inniskillin has progressed from been a major player in Ontario to opening a second winery in Oliver BC. Here too they have accumulate the awards.

Tawse

Tawse is a family-owned estate winery situated on the lower slopes of the Niagara Escarpment.
Tawse was named 'Canadian Winery of the Year' by Canadian Wine Access Magazine in 2010, 2011 and 2012! This is the first time an Ontario winery has won this distinction three years in a row, with a record setting 9 gold medals. Winemaker Paul Pender was named Winemaker of the Year in 2011 at the Ontario Wine Awards.

The winery is owned by Moray Tawse. their first harvest 2001 with the winery opening in 2005. They produce 30,000 cases – 360,00 bottles. Their vineyards are Certified organic and biodynamic.
Growing Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, Pinot
Gris, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah

In 2012 alone Tawse was award medals for 32 wines. The winery is indeed one of Canada's Elite.

Winesofcanada.com

I just looked at my calendar, it clearly shows July. What ever happened to August? All the plans I had. How could it now be September. We never made to Cultus Lake to the Hazelnut winery Constantin-Vasilca nor did we find Pitt Meadows' Blue Heron Fruit Winery. We never made it to Blackwood Lane Winery. How could that happen. I had a plans to enjoy lunch at Chaberton Estate winery and visit near by Township7 and Vista D'oro Farm

Plans also included hunting down the small and seldom heard from St. Urban Winery in Chilliwack. What happened to summer. Where did the time go. I wish it was 1992 again.

It was the year I got married and the year we started www.winesofcanada.com. A very good year indeed. I listed 28 wineries and it too just over a week to complete the project. I did it in the fall, working on the website over the winter but taking the summer off. In 1992 there were very few people interested in Canada's wines and only one other website (no blogs). The summer was spend visiting existing wineries new ones were not popping up like today.

In 1993 I though I was luck to get ten hits a day. In order to increase visitors I had new pages. Vineyard Plus was our first addition. Today this section. 100 times to size. The hits came and we became the only website featuring all of Canada's wineries. Our hit count went through the roof.
However, as with everything popular it brings in new people.

As Canada's wines became known world wide along came the writers who use to only talk about imported wines, the blogs and numerous other websites ( most have come and gone). www.winesofcanada.com peaked in 2004 a peak that lasted about four years before the bloggers and magazines, TV stations started to take away traffic.

However we stuck with it increasing our listing of Wineries, Cideries and Meaderies to over 800. We added new pages new features and once again the visitors returned. We had popular pages such as our history section, Women of Wine and The Best Wineries to Visit.
The summer of 2015 was very good to us as we slowly but surely gain back the traffic.
The website remains Canada's most popular source for information on Canada's wineries. We continue to operate in the RED.

The fall of 2015 will find us sprucing up the website, fine tuning the pages. We will of course continue the research discouvering new  wineries; letting the world see Canada's wineries through our eyes.