Inniskillin is Canada’s most famous winery and a global pioneer of icewine, the country’s signature style. It was founded in 1975 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, at a time when Canadian wine was still fighting for international recognition. The name “Inniskillin” comes from an Irish regiment and was also the name of the farm where the winery was established, tying heritage and place together from the beginning.

The winery made history in 1975 by receiving the first winery license granted in Ontario since Prohibition, marking the start of Canada’s modern wine era. Its true breakthrough came in the 1980s, when Inniskillin began producing icewine from grapes naturally frozen on the vine. This painstaking process — harvesting in the dead of winter, pressing frozen grapes to extract intensely concentrated juice — created wines with unparalleled sweetness, acidity, and complexity. Inniskillin’s icewine won international awards, most famously at Vinexpo in Bordeaux in 1991, where it captured global attention and put Canadian wine on the world map.

While icewine remains the estate’s flagship, Inniskillin also produces table wines from classic varietals like Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc. Still, it is the golden nectar of its Vidal, Riesling, and Cabernet Franc icewines that defines the brand.

As a brand, Inniskillin symbolizes innovation, perseverance, and Canadian pride. It transformed an entire nation’s reputation in the wine world and continues to embody both excellence and authenticity. To this day, when people think of Canadian wine, Inniskillin is often the first name that comes to mind — a benchmark for icewine and a symbol of what makes the cold clim