Inniskillin Wines was established in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario in 1975 by Cofounders Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser having been granted the first license since 1929. Their philosophy was simply to produce premium varietal wines from premium grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula. This marked a new era in the Canadian Wine Industry. They concentrated on wines from the classic European vitis vinifera grapes such as Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noire and expanded to have two estate wineries in both the Niagara Peninsula and the Okanagan Valley, in British Columbia.

Great importance is placed on site and clonal selection, vineyard techniques, barrel quality and aging capacity as well as working with selected, dedicated growers. Meeting the demand for ultra-premium wines, Inniskillin's Reserve and Single Vineyard bottlings pay close attention to the terroir while the Founders' Series emphasizes barrel selection of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Inniskillin is very well known for its production of Icewine, a highly sought after wine which is profiled separately below.

The winery is set on the Brae Burn Estate amongst the vineyards below the Niagara Escarpment and next to the mighty Niagara River. A visit to the winery truly gives a wine country experience through our tours, tastings and special events. A welcoming Piazza greets visitors and connecting the retail & tasting area housed in the old restored Brae Burn Barn to the food and wine activities taking place in the Founders' Hall. A trip to the underground cellar allows for viewing our cellar of older vintages. We feature two types of tasting bars, one profiling our VQA table wines and one profiling our VQA Icewines. Inniskillin Icewine continues to capture attention as a rare intense and concentrated wine that takes centre stage at main wine events at the winery.

Inniskillin Wines is located at 1499 Line 3 at the Niagara Parkway just fifteen minutes from White Oaks, twenty minutes from Niagara Falls and five minutes from the historic town of Niagara on the Lake.

OPEN YEAR ROUND
TOURS

May- Oct. --seven guided tours daily, hourly 10:30-4:30
Nov-April-- two guided tours daily, 10:30 and 2:30.

HOURS OF OPERATION & TASTING BARS

May - Oct. 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; Tasting Bars 11:00 am - 5:30 pm
Nov-April 10:00 am -5:00 pm; Tasting Bars 11:00 am- 4:30 pm.

Closed major holidays.

Phone 905-468-2187 x 311 or 1-888-466-4754 x 311

Inniskillin Icewine:

Extreme Canadian Winters allow for Extreme Canadian Winemaking

Inniskillin and Canada have become famous for making Icewine from grapes frozen naturally on the vine, a method invented by the Germans in the 18th Century, but very conducive to Canadian winters. More than 200 years later, Icewine is celebrated as a specialty wine offering a tantalizing and complex sensory experience with Inniskillin being the leading producer in Canada.

Inniskillin Cofounder Karl Kaiser, who is a native of Austria, adapted the idea of producing Icewine to Canada, since Canada is "blessed with cold winters". Kaiser produced his first vintage of Icewine in 1984 after losing his first attempt in 1983 to ravenous birds. Netting the vines in fall keeps the birds from eating them and catches the bunches as the wicked winter wind drops them from the vine.

Canadians are proud of this new Canadian icon and international visitors vie to find and purchase it!! Visitors seek out the Icewine at Inniskillin Winery. Inniskillin Icewine first came to international attention during Vinexpo, Bordeaux France in 1991 when the 1989 Vidal Icewine won the prestigious Grand Prix D'Honneur. This was a pivotal moment for both Inniskillin and the Canadian Wine Industry. Today you can find Inniskillin Icewine in over 50 countries around the world. You will find it on the wine lists of some of the finest hotels and dining establishments as well as in the cellars of fine wine collectors.

Inniskillin produces Icewines from Vidal, Riesling and Cabernet Franc. The white Icewines are perfect on their own as a dessert, or an excellent match to fresh fruit, foie gras, rich seafood dishes or fine blue veined and cream based cheese. The red Cabernet Franc Icewine goes particularly well with dark chocolate.

Realizing the need for an appropriate style of glass exclusively for Icewine, Inniskillin invited 10th generation Austrian glassmaker, Georg Riedel, President of Riedel Crystal, to conduct a workshop with selected wine experts to Toronto in 1999. What has resulted is the creation of the Riedel Icewine Glass designed to maximize both the concentrated aroma and flavours of Icewine as part of Riedel's Vinum Extreme Series. This can be experienced at our Icewine Tasting Bar along with comparing the different styles.