Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
Left: Donald Ziraldo (second left), co-founder of Inniskillin Winery in Ontario, Canada, signs copies of his book 'Anatomy Of A Winery' for Yvonne Fisher (centre) and Judith Douglas. The Canadian High Commissioner hosted a tasting of Canada's icewine, held at Seymour Avenue, last Friday . Right: Canadian High Commissioner Claudio Valle (left), chats with Donald Ziraldo (right) of Inniskillin Winery and Leo Taddeo of New Era Homes. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NECTAR of the gods they called it and the guests couldn't wait to see if this was true.
The liquid of which we speak is Canada's own icewine from the Inniskillin region of the great white north. Some privileged few were able to sample the wine at the Canadian High Commissioner's residence on Seymour Avenue.
Co-founder of Inniskillin, Donald J.P. Ziraldo, was there first hand to spread the word about this exciting 'new' flavour that might be on Jamaican shelves soon.
We've been here for a couple of days, meeting with potential distributors," he said after the first corks were popped. Apart from the love of beer, Jamaicans can also appreciate good wine and that's what Inniskillin is banking on.
"We have always been intrigued with Jamaica. Even in your hotels, there are top quality wines," he said seemingly marvelled. Inniskillin Wines was granted a winery licence in 1975, the first since 1929 for Ontario. The mission was to produce and bottle outstanding wines from select grapes in the Niagara Peninsula.
FAMOUS IRISH REGIMENT
Oh, and about the name. 'Inniskillin' is Irish in nature and is derived from a famous Irish regiment, the Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Now for the taste. The consensus was that this wine, like its nectar analogy is indeed sweet.
Among the guests sampling the good stuff were Nikki Feanny, Thalia and Capt. Michael Lyn, Edward and Carla Seaga, Ossie Harding, Beverly Junor-Levy, Angelo Valle, brother of the High Commissioner, Ambassador Madge Barrett and Michael Anthony Cuffe.
