By Rick VanSickle
Adnan Icel, the owner of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Icellars Estate Winery, has passed away, a note on the winery’s Instagram feed said early today.
“Life is full of sudden goodbyes … @adnanicel
R.I.P. … 1966-2025,” the post said in its entirety. Tributes quickly poured in from the Niagara wine community:
Kirby Estates owners Scott and Maria Kirby: “Maria and I are deeply saddened. May Adnan’s memory be eternal. Our thoughts are with Elif and family.”
Matt Faik Turkmen, owner of Lailey: “I’m so sorry to hear this — my deepest condolences. May he rest in peace. Adnan, with his vision and hard work, made a lasting mark in the wine industry. He will be remembered.”
Lidija Biro, wine writer: “My sincere condolences to the entire family for this great loss. Adnan was a true visionary and will be missed by the wine and grape growing community.”
De Simone Vineyards: “My deepest condolences to the family. I’m so incredibly sorry. Adnan was a great person, a good friend and an amazing winemaker, he will be greatly missed. He accomplished so much in his time. We will be thinking heavily about you all and keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.”
Peter Gamble, who along with his wife Ann Sperling are consultants for Icellars, told Wines in Niagara that Icel’s death was “a shock to us. He was such a joy to consult with and such a passionate guy.”
Gamble called him a “brilliant” engineer who cleverly applied his skills to every area of the winery from the bottling line to the label maker, solar power and beyond. In 2023, Icellars completed a big greenhouse gas reduction project with the help of a government of Canada grant to be the first Net Energy Zero winery in Canada that includes solar PV electricity generation, geothermal heating and cooling and precise agricultural technologies.
From Turkey to Niagara wine country,
Icellars’ incredible journey against all odds
In February 2020, Wines in Niagara first met and interviewed Adnan Icel and was told of the incredible story of how the family ended up in Niagara to build an estate winery. Here is that story retold:
Icel, his wife Elif and their family immigrated to Canada 17 years ago from Turkey with no wine experience to speak of — either drinking or making — and today crafts some of the most exciting new wines in Niagara. Let that sink in for a moment.
“I didn’t even know Canada made wine,” Icel told me in 2020 when I first interviewed the self-taught winemaker, grape grower and chief bottle washer.
What he did bring with him was an MBA degree and his career as a mechanical engineer that he parlayed into a successful company building pre-engineered steel residential and commercial buildings as CEO of Trimetal Engineering Inc., a company he founded and owned in Turkey and then moved it to Oakville when he and his family came to Canada in 2006. He “semi” retied from his business shortly after he moved to Oakville with a dream to try something completely different — farming.
It was Niagara’s beauty that caught his eye and after searching for farmland, came upon the property he ended up purchasing on Concession 5 Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake, right beside the now closed Coyote’s Run winery (he ended up buying the bulk of its winemaking equipment, tanks and barrels).
It was a 60-acre farm with nothing but fallow fields and plenty of potential. His thoughts turned to his ancestors in his homeland of Anatolia, now present-day Turkey. The early civilization of Hittites founded their empire on those fertile lands over 4,000 years ago and are credited for founding modern day winemaking techniques.
So, Icel did what any successful mechanical engineer would do. He would build a 20,000 square foot winery, based on the steel buildings he had constructed so many times before, plant grapes and teach himself how to make wine.
The first wine Icel made was in 2011 after reading a how-to book on winemaking. Though his wine drinking, or any drinking at all, was limited to the odd white wine from Turkey and, of course, raki, otherwise known as Lion’s Milk — the Turkish national drink made from twice-distilled grapes and aniseed. The first wine he made he described as “excellent,” which prompted Icel to attend “hundreds” of winemaking seminars, reading “hundreds” of books on the subject and a journey of discovery to the great wines regions of the world to taste as many wines as he could to learn what it was he liked and wanted to emulate from his patch of Niagara. He fell in love with Napa Valley after tasting some of the best wines the region has to offer — Opus One, Shafer, Robert Mondavi, up and down the Silverado Trail and Highway 29, tasting after tasting.
The wines of Mondavi, especially those crafted from the famed To-Kalon Vineyard, had a particular impact on Icel and the founder of the winery, Robert Mondavi, became a hero of sorts. To this day, he keeps a particular passage from Mondavi’s book Harvests of Joy close at hand as it relates to the vineyard Icel planted from scratch.
“The more tasting I did, the more I came to understand the importance of climate and proper soil content and drainage,” the late Mondavi wrote. “I found that the cooler the climate, the more flavour and character you get in the grapes; this is true with almost every fruit. So, I came up with an axiom to guide us: The cooler the climate — but still warm enough to bring the grapes to full maturity — the finer the grapes. And the finer the grapes, the finer the wine. In our tastings, we studied how we could best match different grape varietals to the different microclimates and soil types on our properties and those of the Napa Valley growers who supplied us.”
Icel and his family turned the 60-acre farm into 17 acres of estate fruit to start, then planted another 23 acres and plans to plant 10 more to get to 40 acres under vine and a case production of 10,000 from the 4,000 they now produce.
The production is 90% estate fruit from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petite Verdot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling are sourced from Craig Wismer and the vines are tended to by Glen Elgin Vineyard Management.
All the wines were made by Icel in the early years with careful onsite consultation from Peter Gamble.
The winery building was designed and built on the principles of having everything under one roof, creating a simple yet functional space. Small lot wines are processed separately by gravity flow in an environmentally friendly design. The simplicity of the architectural design is echoed by offering limited production wines for sale in a practical but cosy tasting room that adjoins the massive working winery.
The family’s Turkish heritage is incorporated in the label design that captures the icons of an ancient life and the roots of the family’s heritage. The stag design is inspired by the wine drinking vessels used by the Hittites of Anatolia (depicted in above photos). Blended into the label is the Hittite sun disk – a symbol of prosperity, fertility and celebration.
While Icel self-taught himself to make all the wines at the estate, with advice from Gamble, it is not something he wants to do forever. “If you let me, I can go 24 hours a day. I did punch downs in my slippers,” he said. The small batch wines were made by Icel between 2014 and 2024. Mark Williamson is the current winemaker, and the cellar master is Timothy Shashkoff, both are graduates of Niagara College Winemaking Viticulture program.
Wines in Niagara sends its sincere condolences to the Icel family.
We met Icel and his family at a tasting we did while attending I4C two years ago, and we became instant fans. His wife served up a traditional Turkish dish she was grilling on the patio, and we had a very interesting two hours, and came home with a number of bottles that ate still aging in my cellar. His winery was immediately on my list if wineries to follow. This is shocking news. My condolences to his family. We met his son also. I hope he is able to continue with the family business. 😥
We will miss Adnan. He was a great guy and a loyal customer. Our condolences to the family.
Absolutely shattered to hear this terrible news. What a tremendous loss of such a wonderful young man. His and his family’s legacy will continue to inspire winemakers, young and old, throughout the region. If there is a God, may Adnan be greeted by him/her with open arms, a smile, and a large glass of the finest red wine. Peace be with him and his family.
I am at a loss for words. I met this amazing family very early on and realized just how special they were. Kind is too small of a word to describe how they were to everyone they met. My deepest condolences to Elif and the whole family on this big loss. Not only did Niagara lose one of the best winemakers it ever had, the world lost a true gentleman with a kind soul.
I am deeply saddened to hear of Adnan’s sudden passing. I shall keep fond memories of his frequent visits to Coyote’s Run. He would often stop by with a particular focus on his mind, seeking out insights or advice, for which he was always most grateful. He has certainly left a fine legacy for his family, to whom I send my most sincere condolences.
I have known Adnan since he came to Niagara and he is a great loss. He was a pleasure to know and work with. Our deepest condolences to the family. May God be with you through this time.