Icewine grapes chill in the snow after being harvested
Riesling vineyard and it’ s going to be significantly experimental. I’ m working with CCOVI and with Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, and it will be organic and biodynamic. I want to really get into the details of some of these things that are going to become increasingly important.
GH: When you started Inniskillin, it was in the lake area, and now the personality of the two major regions of Niagara is starting to come through. Where have you chosen to locate your block of Riesling?
DZ: [ laughs ] We went back to the original site where we started Inniskillin, which is two kilometers away from the Inniskillin property right now. When we first started Inniskillin, Karl and I made wine in the packing shed on my farm. When we needed to put an addition on, we went to build it and we hit quicksand. So we had a little bit of a problem. By coincidence, the property right across the street from the vineyard where I had planted those 30,000 vines became available and that’ s where the new winery is. So I am just going back home. I spent last summer clearing a sixty-year-old cherry orchard, putting in a big pond, and doing all the prep work. I will plant this spring.
GH: And with that size of property, you hope to grow biodynamically?
DZ: Yes, it’ s become a bit of a challenge, because, in Niagara, we are not blessed with the dry weather. I have been doing a fair bit of research. My Chair at Vineland gives me an opportunity to sit with the scientists and say,“ You guys want to know what the priorities are? Well here’ s the priority: the market wants organic or biodynamic wines.” In our industry, in Niagara, there is only a tiny little quantity growing organically and biodynamically, so we are not meeting the demand. We should be, as researchers, leading the initiative.
We’ ve got Isabelle Lesschaeve, who is director of sensory evaluation at Vineland, checking the grapes for colour and aroma, working with our geneticist Daryl Somers and mapping genes to come up with varieties like a Pinot Noir that is more resistant to cold and has more colour. We are doing this research in conjunction with the organic movement, or what generically is called“ sustainable.”