Acclaim
Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser with Intervin award for Inniskillin icewine, 1986
Inniskillin award-winning wines, 1998-2002
Over the years, Inniskillin has received numerous awards and accolades for its products. Many of these awards are from prestigious international competitions that established Inniskillin as a producer of world-class wines.
In the company's earlier years, several awards were received from the International Eastern Wine Competition (1981-1984). In 1986, Inniskillin's Icewine was recognized as the top scoring Canadian Wine at the Intervin competition. The most notable award came in 1991 when Inniskillin was awarded the coveted Grand Prix D'Honneur from Vinexpo, France for their 1989 icewine. This recognition launched Inniskillin into the international wine arena. They became known for producing 'one of the world's great wines' and became Canada's leading producer of icewine.
Ziraldo embarked on an ambitious public relations campaign to promote Inniskillin and build icewine into a worldwide brand. He travelled extensively, networking with politicians, celebrities, chefs, and sommeliers. To ensure international and long-term success, Ziraldo introduced icewine to the United States and Asia which were new markets. Tony Aspler, a well-known Canadian wine writer, has called Ziraldo "Canada's Wine Ambassador".
Donald Ziraldo holding the Grand Prix D'Honneur from Vinexpo, France
Further capitalizing on their icewine's success, Inniskillin commissioned Canadian artist Brad Copping in 1992 to create limited hand blown ice sculpture bottles for their icewine. This project continued for several years with a new sculpture released annually. In 1999, Ziraldo and Kaiser collaborated with Georg Riedel, a tenth-generation glass blower, to create a vessel to deliver the ultimate experience of icewine. The result was the Riedel/Inniskillin Vinum Extreme Icewine Glass.
A selection of ice sculpture bottles designed by Canadian artist Brad Copping. The sculptures were commissioned by Inniskillin and designed to hold icewine.