How we started Icellars-Part 1

First of all I apologize for spelling mistakes, typos etc. I am not a writer, English is not my first language and I am writing these newsletters between my tractor rides.

This week and for couple of more weeks, I am going to write about how we got into wine business.

A mechanical engineer worked in construction since 1988. Owned and operated a mid size engineering company with 60 employees back in Turkiye. Visited Canada first time in 1999 and immigrated in 2006 with wife Elif and two sons.

Originally founded a new engineering company based in Oakville, ON.

 

I always had a childhood dream of farming. My wife and I began to look to purchase a farmland in Ontario in 2009, thinking about cashcrop farming. After a few unsuccesful attempts to buy, one day we watched a newly released movie Bottle Shock. A movie based on a true story about 1976 Judgement of Paris that two California wines topped the best of French wines in a blind tasting by French judges. The movie was highlighting the winning Chardonnay wine made by the rookie winemaker of Chateau Montelena in Napa, California. He was a corporate lawyer who left his comfortable office job to make wine in then unknown Napa. If you haven’t watched this movie, you are missing the best wine movie ever made.

Anyways, we watched this movie in early 2010 and looked at each other and said; this is our future.

 

At the time we were not big wine drinkers, knew nothing neither about farming nor winemaking and knew nobody in the industry. Then we started to drink wine regularly, started to read and learn as much as possible as fast as possible. Our land purchase focus was turned to Niagara Peninsula checking out the MLS daily.

In September 2010, we saw a 60 acres fallow land in Niagara-on-the-Lake that didn’t have any building, vineyard, service and no history of farming for at least the last 30 years. Weeds covering the land were taller than us.

We made our offer and in 3 days we signed the purchase contract. Our timing was quite good because it was just after the 2008/2009 economic crisis that no one was interested in buying a non-income generating land and the seller was very motivated.

We put all of our life savings togather and manage to purchase without a loan.

This us a long story and I will continue next week.

P.S. The summer is here big time and our patio overlooking to our vineyard is so peaceful. Or you can always order our wine online at the link below.

Cheers.
Adnan Icel
Owner&Winemaker