Inniskillin was co-founded by Don Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser in 1975. It was later merged into Vincor International and is now a part of Constellation Brands. Ziraldo who retired as the President of the company in 2006 was in Verona to personally collect the award.
"This is a huge win, on par with when Inniskillin Vidal Icewine won a
Grand Prix d'Honneur at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in 1991," says Ziraldo. "This
award is receiving lots of attention in Europe, which really helps put Niagara
and the Canadian wine industry on the world map." In fact, this award catapulted the winery that received the first winery license in Ontario in the post-prohibition era into international fame after winning this award.
"The Premio Speciale Gran Vinitaly 2009" award is given to a winery which must have received the highest score based upon two gold medals won in two different categories. The company had the gold winners in Inniskillin 2006 Sparkling Vidal and the Inniskillin 2006 Vidal Gold Oak Aged icewines.
The OIV- approved Vinitaly wine competition has become an important competition globally because of its being highly selective. Medals are awarded to only 3% of the wines entered. Out of 3,539 entries, only 113 medals were awarded this year.
‘When I met Ziraldo for the first time at Vinitaly in 2002, he explained very lucidly over the tasting of his full range, why he believed Canadian icewines were the best in the world,’ says Subhash Arora, President of Delhi Wine Club. ‘The major factor is that the temperatures are always less than -7° C, required by law for harvesting the grapes. Europe does not necessarily fulfil this condition every year whereas the Niagara region does not have this problem we generally pick grapes at -10° C,’ he remembers Don as saying.
‘Also, they had concentrated on quality of the product right from the beginning. Ziraldo who was the founding chairman of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) introduced the VQA system to the industry in 1989. He even showed me a special icewine glass they had Riedel design for them to get the maximum flavour and aromas and presented me with a book on icewine making, commissioned by them,’ signs off Arora. |