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Inniskillin’s winemaking team continues to set new benchmarks for quality and to break new ground in establishing Canada’s two top wine regions, Niagara and the Okanagan, on the world winemaking stage.
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Bruce Nicholson
Senior Winemaker, Inniskillin Niagara
With his in depth knowledge of the Okanagan and his roots in Niagara, Bruce Nicholson has come full circle as a Canadian Winemaker. Ironically, early on in his career, the man who is now our Senior Winemaker approached Inniskillin co-founder Karl Kaiser for a position at the winery. As fate would have it, that job did not materialize. Following Kaiser’s retirement in 2006, Bruce now oversees all winemaking activity, which includes both table wines and Icewines, after an outstanding career in the Okanagan, where he was Senior Winemaker at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate in British Columbia. |
Born and raised in Ontario's leading wine region, the Niagara Peninsula, Bruce was intrigued by the winemaking industry from an early age. After studying Sciences from Ontario’s Ryerson University and University of Windsor, Bruce apprenticed in winemaking in Niagara before heading out to Western Canada. Recognized for his broad skills and talent, Bruce was selected to lead Jackson-Triggs' Okanagan Winery in 1993, and has since been credited for creating its award-winning Okanagan VQA wines.
Bruce’s winemaking expertise and his stellar wines were acknowledged in a very fitting tribute by wine writer John Schreiner in the dedication of the 2006 edition of his book, Wines of British Columbia:
“For winemaker Bruce Nicholson, who returned to his home town of Niagara Falls this year as the Senior Winemaker of Inniskillin Wines after twenty years of making wine in the Okanagan. As the Senior Winemaker for Jackson-Triggs, he made superb wines that gained acclaim internationally and across Canada, helping to establish the Okanagan as a gem amongst the world’s wine regions.”
Bruce’s wines are both distinctive and defined. He continues to apply his consistent dedication and career goal of staying true to the individual characteristics of the varietals while ensuring that it reaches its maximum potential. He pays attention to both the Science and the Art of winemaking, commenting, -“I enjoy working with the good acidities here in Niagara and I believe the potential is endless.”
Bruce currently sits on the Technical Committee of the VQA and the committee for Sustainable Winemaking in Ontario of the Wine Council of Ontario. In the fall of 2007, Bruce announced an initiative to take grape pomace and use it to generate clean, renewable electricity through a partnership with StormFisher Biogas. This by-product would previously been destined to a landfill and the methane gas released into the atmosphere. The partnership demonstrates how sustainable business practices can benefit the environment and communities while improving the bottom line by giving new use to what was once a waste product.
Bruce’s stellar career has seen him amass more than 1,500 trophies and medals, and with that kind of award-winning spirit, it’s no wonder that a recent profile by David Lawrason in Toronto Life magazine referred to the Niagara region as “Bruce’s Peninsula”! |
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Sandor Mayer
Winemaker, Winery Manager And Viticulturist, Inniskillin Okanagan
For Sandor Mayer, winemaking is a family affair. Born and raised in Hungary, Sandor developed his love of viticulture and winemaking from his father, who ran a small winery. Pursing his interest, he studied horticulture, including vineyard management and winemaking from 1972 - 1976. After a year of experience working in a vineyard, he moved to the Central Research Station in Kecskemet, Hungary, where he added to his knowledge, working in a research capacity, studying and evaluating grape varietals. He graduated from the University of Kecskemet with a degree in Oenology and Viticulture in 1981. |
Eager to ply his expertise in a more senior role, Sandor found work as a vineyard manager in Hungary’s esteemed Lake Balaton winemaking region. After relocating for a similar position in Austria, he was sponsored by an uncle who was living in Canada and moved, with his wife and family, to the Okanagan Valley in 1988. In 1990 he was responsible for developing a new vineyard near Oliver in the southern part of the Okanagan Valley, now known as Dark Horse Estate Vineyard. Mayer became winemaker for Okanagan Vineyards in 1992. In 1996 when the winery was purchased by Inniskillin Wines, Mayer retained his position. Mayer ultimately became winemaker, winery general manager and viticulturist for Inniskillin Okanagan Vineyards - positions he continues to hold today.
Fortunately for Inniskillin Okanagan, Mayer is involved with the grapes all year long. As he supervises the vineyard and the development of the fruit, he aims for maximum quality by calculating crop levels.
"My approach is simple," says Mayer. "I aim for the highest quality from the grapes. Then based on the growing year and the varietal, I try to exploit that quality potential to maximize it in the cellar. When I start the winemaking process, I need to keep that quality constant in tanks and barrels, and eventually this wine will express itself, or reflect the terroir, at the end of the process."
As passionate about vineyards as he is about wine, Mayer considers each day a fresh new challenge that invariably leads to better quality wines. With his ongoing work in his Discovery Vineyard, Sandor continues to break new ground for new varietals and great vintages to come, in his ongoing quest to make superior wines.
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