December 2017 Digital Issue

“The advantage
of Icewine was
it was Canadian
and people
could understand
how a cold
country like
Canada could
produce it”
DONALD ZIRALDO
Born in St. Catharines, Ont. to Fiorello and Irma Ziraldo, the eldest
of three boys was raised in a close-knit Italian family in Niagara-onthe-Lake,
where his father owned Ziraldo Farms & Nursery. When his
father suddenly passed away when Donald was only 15, the teenager
assumed increased responsibility on the farm and in the nursery. It
wasn’t surprising he ended up enrolling in the agricultural college at
the University of Guelph where he earned a BSc in Agriculture in 1971.
It was a chance encounter with Karl Kaiser — a former teacher and
Austrian immigrant who happened to show up at Ziraldo Nursery one
day looking to buy some European grape varieties to make homemade
wine — that spurred a chain of events culminating in the two men
revolutionizing the Canadian wine scene.
“Karl came to the nursery to buy hybrid vines,” recalls Ziraldo. At
the time, most of the wines produced in Canada were made from the
indigenous Labrusca vines — the same ones that produce Concord
grapes. “He didn’t want those vines because they produced a sweet,
foxy taste,” characteristic of much of the wines produced in Canada
at that time. Kaiser had heard that Ziraldo had been experimenting
with winter-resistant, hardy hybrids and propagating them in his family’s
nursery for several of the area’s wineries, including Brights and
Château-Gai. After buying the Friulan vines, Kaiser eventually returned
with a sample of the wine he made from them for Ziraldo to taste. One
thing led to another, with Kaiser ultimately proposing, “Why don’t I
make it and you sell it?”
It was the beginning of a relationship that would give rise to a new
appreciation for Canadian winemaking. But it didn’t come without
challenges. The duo approached the LCBO for a winery license, which
had not been given out in Ontario since 1929. Persistence and determination
fuelled the young Ziraldo, who found a friend and a mentor in
General George Kitching, then head of the LCBO, who even provided
Ziraldo with barrels to age the wines. “There was no grand plan,”
recalls Ziraldo. “I was busy working seven days a week with my mom
and two brothers but it seemed like a good idea.”
It wasn’t until the duo produced their first wine, a Maréchel Foch,
which placed first in a wine competition, that the partners realized
they were on to something. The wine was produced from vinifera
vines and Ziraldo and Kaiser were counting on being the first winery
to introduce the varietal. But, a month before they planned to launch
their wine, a TV commercial aired featuring Château-Gai’s Paul Bosc
Sr., extolling the virtues of the first Maréchal Foch, and pre-empting
Ziraldo and Kaiser. The partners were devastated. “Luckily,” recalls
Ziraldo, “they produced so little of it, they ran out quickly, forcing consumers
to buy our Inniskillin product. I always thank Paul Bosc Sr. for
getting us started,” laughs Ziraldo.
With Kaiser as the consummate winemaker — experimenting
with varietals such as Riesling, Chardonnay and Gamay — and
Ziraldo the astute marketer and voice of the fledgling company,
Inniskillin not only succeeded, it thrived based on the partners’ philosophy
that only premium grapes could produce premium wines.
“We refused to do anything that was mediocre. Our dream was to
make world-class wines.”
“Finding a place for the table wines was a real struggle,” admits
Ziraldo. In fact, it wasn’t until the company introduced wines produced
from frozen grapes on the vine that success really took hold. “It
was Karl’s idea and I thought it was the dumbest idea — I told him he
was drinking too much of his own wine,” quips Ziraldo. “What is this
frozen wine you’re talking about?” But Kaiser was right on the money,
evidenced by Inniskillin’s strong showing in Bordeaux in 1989 and
its momentous win in 1991 when it was awarded gold at VinExpo in
Bordeaux and the Grand Prix d’honneur for its Vidal Icewine. “We got
a lot of play from that,” says Ziraldo. “There was a real wow factor with
the Icewine. You couldn’t go wrong. The advantage of Icewine was it
was Canadian and people could understand how a cold country like
Canada could produce it,” explains Ziraldo.
At the time, it was unheard of for a Canadian wine to gain that kind
of international acclaim. It was also unheard of for a Canadian wine
company to market itself so well. “We came back to Niagara and all
of a sudden we had double-decker busloads of Japanese tourists buying
armfuls of the Icewine to bring back home. It grew from there. We
were at the right place at the right time,” he says, pointing to the strong
team that helped him. While it surprised even Ziraldo, he was astute
enough to recognize the potential of the product and the power of the
niche market they were creating.
He was also one of the first wine producers to understand the
importance of targeting restaurants. “I discovered sommeliers and they
became our personal ambassadors,” recalls Ziraldo. “If they like your
wine, they recommend it and the third-party endorsements are better
than anything else.”
Ziraldo’s influence on the Canadian wine industry goes well beyond
32 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER 2017 FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM