anatomy of a winemaker:
AN INTERVIEW WITH DONALD ZIRALDO
By Gary Hewitt, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CWE
International acclaim, from awards and honourary degrees to the country’ s highest honour, the Order of Canada, adorn the life of the charming Donald Ziraldo. As co-founder of Inniskillin, Ziraldo proclaimed Canada’ s estate winery industry to the world when Inniskillin Icewine won Vinexpo’ s 1991 Grand Prix d ' Honneur. Gary Hewitt sits down with Donald Ziraldo to discuss his accomplished adventures in the science and art of the Canadian wine industry.
significantly, making the transition from one variety to another in just a few decades; a transition which, in any other world region, would have taken centuries.
GH: A lot of our younger generation doesn’ t remember what the wine scene was like in Canada in the 1970s. Can you remind us about that?
DZ: You know what? That’ s a good thing. I think it’ s better we don’ t remind them. They are very different from the traditional wine buyer: they buy what they like and what tastes good.
Donald Ziraldo at Inniskillin Wines
GH Let’ s start at the beginning. You have been a pioneer in the Canadian wine industry. What did you see in Niagara in the early 1970s that inspired you to take the leap into the first estate winery [ in Canada ]?
DZ I grew up on a farm in Niagara, and I started in the nursery business. My Dad died when I was 15, but I had experienced wines through my Dad: he’ s Italian, so Italians make wine. When I went back to Europe, I noticed that in Friuli, Northern Italy, where my parents came from, they were growing the same crops as in Niagara; then, as you went up to Switzerland and Germany, there were no peaches and apricots, but there were grapes. I was puzzled at why we couldn’ t grow grapes that tasted like the European grapes in Niagara, instead of growing these older varieties. Because I was in the nursery business, and grafted plant materials for the farm, I started propagating European grape vines.
By 1974, I had 30,000 plants that nobody wanted to buy, so I planted them in my own vineyard. I had Chardonnay, Riesling, and Gamay, and I also put in some de Chaunac, which is a hybrid. Then [ my future business partner ] Karl [ Kaiser ] came in to buy some grapevines that“ didn’ t taste Canadian.” Those two situations added up to the perfect storm. We went and applied for a license, which they hadn’ t issued [ in Canada ] since 1929.
Additionally, in 1989, the Free Trade Agreement decimated the industry so, instead of trying to plan a change, the Canadian wine industry got a whack in the side of the head by the government. Canada’ s wine industry has evolved
GH: Niagara has changed enormously and, as you say, in a relatively short period of time. Do you think we’ re“ there” yet?
DZ: I think we’ re a long way away. We haven’ t gotten the recognition that other wine regions have, and I’ ll give you the best example: New Zealand. We both came from the same place— hybrids, small country, New World, and with an elephant beside us. They have an Australian elephant and we have a US elephant. They’ ve taken off. Our Icewine is their Sauvignon Blanc, but we don’ t seem to get the same respect they do, so I think you’ re going to see a lot more evolution in the industry.
GH: You mentioned Icewine, which you are very famously associated with. Your 1989 Icewine won the Grand Prix d’ Honneur award at the Vinexpo in France. Was the intention always to head toward Icewine production, or was it a tipping point when you ended up going in that direction?
DZ:“ Tipping point” is a good term to use. The whole Icewine phenomenon really happened accidentally. Karl and his buddy [ Walter ] Schmoranz from Pelee Island decided they were going to do Icewine. Honestly, when first he told me, I thought he was crazy. Letting grapes hang on the vine and freeze? That was the craziest idea I’ d ever heard! Then we made it, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting product, but we really didn’ t do much with it.
Then, we took it to Bordeaux. I had a young French import manager, Frank Pironet, who said,“ You really should take this wine and put it in the [ Vinexpo ] competition.” I said,“ Sure, kid. We’ re going anyways, so why not?”
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