No matter where you are in the world, Canada is synonymous with winter, ice, and cold. In many regions, winter lasts half the year, with extreme deep freezes occurring during the coldest months of December, January, and February. Even my city — Ottawa, the Nation’s Capital — can dip below -30°C before the windchill. They don’t call us The Great White North for nothing!
However, we do have regions that are warm enough to grow vines that produce wine-quality grapes. The Niagara Peninsula (Ontario), Prince Edward County (Ontario), and Okanagan Valley (British Columbia) are three of Canada’s most well-known wine producing regions, with award-winning and internationally renown wines. There are many other smaller regions throughout the country, including Quebec, Alberta, and the Maritimes, that also produce wine. There are even an increasing amount of vineyards in the Ottawa Valley. Although vineyards still use native grape varieties, many have started growing European varieties, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
It’s no surprise that Icewine is the quintessential Canadian wine. This is a sweet, alcoholic wine made from grapes that are left on the vine after ripening, until the first deep frost. These grapes are pressed while still frozen to capture sugar, acids, and extracts, resulting in an intensely flavoured dessert wine. It is difficult to produce as the grapes must be healthy (completely free from rot, etc), they need to be protected from pest (especially birds, deer, and insects), and they need to be harvested at one of the most difficult times of year.
Icewine was first produced in the late 1700s in Germany. Eventually, this know-how was brought over to Canada by a German winemaker. Canada emerged as the largest producer of Icewine in the late 1990s, largely in part to the success story of Inniskillin, carving out a new segment in the dessert wine category of alcoholic beverages.
I had an insightful opportunity to learn more about the Icewine industry in Canada and abroad thanks to a partnership between NEOMA Business School and Brock University’s Goodman School of Business. Through this crash course, I learned how ice wine is produced, including the science behind alcohol production and the ripening of the grapes. The course closely examined Inniskillin’s brand DNA and production, as well as its unique marketing strategy and its distribution channels. Beyond Inniskillin, we examined the (general) wine industry within Canada, as well as the global Icewine market. We were then split up into group to come up with launch strategies for Icewines abroad. These were then presented to the group and analyzed by the Professors. Finally, I was able to put my wine tasting skills to good use by tasting Ziraldo 100% Vidal Icewine with food pairings.
On July 31, 1975, Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser made history when they were given the first winery license in Canada since Prohibition. The pair founded Inniskillin, Canada’s first estate winery. They not only made incredible wine — resulting in a stunning win over a Beaujolais for the coveted Grand prix d’honneur at Vinexpo, France — they essentially created a brand new wine industry and put Canadian wine on the map. In addition, Mr. Ziraldo was played a key part in establishing the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA), which is Canada’s appellation of origin and standards system. This system secured credibility for pending Free Trade challenges and future export initiatives for the Canadian wine industry.
They expanded globally through a unique marketing strategy. I do not think it is publicly available, so I won’t go into detail, but it really opened my eyes to marketing and distribution channels that I never thought of wine companies using before. This premium wine was able to reach tough, competitive markets by thinking outside the box. It is quite different from the flashy, eccentric marketing strategies by many other top wine brands, but this was extremely effective at giving Inniskillin international brand recognition.
My group and I used some of what we learned towards our marketing pitch. We chose Argentina due to their awareness of sweet dessert wines, as well as the culture, and customer behaviour. I delivered our pitch and our ideas were positively received! It would be interesting to see if they will be used in the brand’s potential future expansion.
The wine pairings were particularly interesting to me. I have pretty much only had Icewine as a celebratory wine with dessert. We tasted Ziraldo 100% Vidal Icewine (Donald Ziraldo’s own brand) alongside dried apricots, sweet and savoury crepes, French butter cookies with lemon and almond, and Stilton blue cheese. I normally do not like blue, but this pairing actually had me going back for seconds! A first!
This particular Icewine was fabulous on the palate — notes of honey, apricot, blossom, and grilled pineapple were refreshing and exciting. Interestingly, Icewine pairs wonderfully with other gastronomic delights such as foie gras, oysters, and game meats. The sweetness and acidity help balance the richness of the dishes.
Overall, this was an eye-opening and exciting course. It is definitely a “must” for any wine marketing students and professionals! Big thanks to the professors for putting this together.
UPDATE
Check out this article written by Brock University about the course, featuring one of my photos and a comment from me: https://brocku.ca/brock-news/2021/04/brock-brings-icewine-education-to-frances-wine-country-with-new-collaboration/
Also featured in Thorold Today and The Grape Growers of Ontario.