Icellars misses their ‘Superman’ but family vows to honour patriarch’s legacy

By Rick VanSickle

“He was a real Superman,” Adnan Icel’s widow Elif tells Wines in Niagara. “He did it all.”

Elif Adnan is not letting the memory of her husband fade. His presence looms large at Icellars Estate Winery, the winery he built from scratch, the only net energy zero wine production and retail facility in Canada, which he engineered himself.

Adnan passed away suddenly in May 2025 at the age of 59 from cardiac arrest, leaving his family and the Niagara wine community in shock. He was the architect of Icellars and worked tirelessly to improve both the winery and the wines day and night.

Wines in Niagara visited the winery for the first time since his passing to see how the family is coping and to taste the deep portfolio of wines at what the Icellars team calls the “House of Reds.”

As you walk into the Icellar tasting room in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the very first thing you see is a portrait of Adnan, photo below, right beside the front door. Deeper into the facility there’s a shrine of sorts with more portraits of Adnan surrounded by an array of Christmas decorations.

“We our always proud of our dad,” says Adnan and Elif’s youngest son Tolga. “We want to make the best of what he left us and make it better.”

There were never thoughts of selling the winery in the wake of Adnan’s passing, which would be the easy route to take in the face of such tragedy. The family — Elif, Arda and Tolga, along with Adnan’s winemaking protégé and now winemaker, Mark Williamson — quickly decided to continue the legacy that family patriarch Adnan created.

It’s a rich legacy that’s worthy of a book. It’s the story of how Adnan, a mechanical engineer who founded his own company in Turkey, and along with Elif and their two sons immigrated to Canada 17 years ago with no wine experience to speak of — either drinking or making. “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. It was 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, where his family still lives, 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.

It was a 60-acre farm with nothing but fallow fields and plenty of potential. Adnan drew on his mechanical engineer skills and built a 20,000 square foot winery, based on the steel buildings he had constructed so many times before, then planted grapes and taught himself how to make wine.

He attended “hundreds” of winemaking seminars, read “hundreds” of books on the subject and a journey of discovery to the great wine 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 terroir. He fell in love with Napa Valley after tasting some of the best wines the region has to offer — Opus One, Screaming Eagle, Shafer, Robert Mondavi, up and down the Silverado Trail and Highway 29, tasting after tasting.

While Icel taught himself to make all the wines at the estate, with the advice from consultant Peter Gamble, it was not something he wanted 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 Adnan with consulting from Gamble between 2014 and 2024. Williamson took over as the full-time winemaker just prior to Adnan’s passing, with Gamble still in his role as consultant.

Icel and his family turned the 60-acre farm into 17 acres of estate fruit to start, then planted another 23 acres and planted 10 more to get to 47 acres under vine and a case production of over 10,000.

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 top vineyards.

Since Adnan’s passing, his sons have taken on most of the tasks their father took on himself. Tolga has been around the winery since he was nine years old, while his brother Arda has been there since he was 13. “Although we were just young kids, my father always involved both of us in every way possible,” Tolga tells me. They learned best practices, application of the operations and the logistics of the wine industry over the years.

“Our responsibilities at the winery over the years grew exponentially, from punch downs, barrel maintenance, cellar and vineyard work, label design, tractor and equipment purchasing, all the way to retail service, and everything in between,” says Tolga. “We were here the entire time doing what needed to be done, but only after his passing could we realize how much more he truly did every day.”

He says that each day since their father’s passing, they discover and tackle new objectives. “It has been a fun and very insightful learning curve.”

Both sons are well educated enough to tackle the responsibilities of what it takes to run a winery. Tolga graduated from McMaster University with an honours and bachelor’s commerce degree, and Arda studied both electrical engineering and physics at Carleton University. “We are the two best branches of my father,” Tolga says.

“I am fully able to incorporate my expertise on the administrative side of the winery, as my father would always keep me by his side when completing some of the administrative tasks,” Tolga says. “My brother manages all in-house operations, while still taking a go at vineyard needs. We are still both eagerly learning, and I imagine it will be this way for a little while.”

Tolga says his family is ready to tackle the operations and viability of the winery because Adnan prepared them well. “During our everyday learning, we are only too proud and grateful for everything we realize he had established. We are in my father’s debt, and if we can ever pay him back for all that he did, it is by continuing his great vision, and elevating it to our best extent. This goal is what truly makes us motivated, disciplined, and eager to accomplish the best of each of us remaining. This belief extends beyond my brother and I, and to my mother Elif, and to our winemaker Mark (Williamson) who has been with my family for countless years.”

Tolga calls his mother “the strongest women I have ever met. To not only grieve a loss this great, but to also move beyond and take on such responsibilities is unmatched.” Elif and Adnan were married for over 30 years, “starting from struggles of one country, and moving across the world to tackle larger objectives,” he says. “A truly unmatched step that no one else could dare to take.”

Tolga says that his mother had been side by side with Adnan since the very beginning, “not just as a family, but as the winery founder. Since our first harvest in 2014, they worked together … whether it be tough, happy, tiring, or through illness. They established everything together even while taking care of us at the start of the winery when my brother and I were just kids. Realizing all of this, it is just as important to her as it is for us, to continue and optimize everything we have established, together, as a small team and family.”

As for Williamson, above, he benefited by working closely with Adnan as the assistant winemaker and was given the winemaker role a year before Adnan passed. “Mark had been the only person that my father met, that he believed was fit for the role at Icellars,” Tolga told Wines in Niagara. “My father is extremely precise and attentive, and it was very difficult to find someone that he feels comfortable with to fulfil his role, and this person was only Mark. They spent so much time together, I would say as much as his own children, to a point where their ideology and beliefs are shared to the fullest extent.”

Tolga says that Adnan’s guidance from his father had already been slowly decreasing as Williamson grew into his responsibilities, objectives and accomplishments. “The responsibilities of each one of us extends beyond our position names, as we are a small, but surely highly driven team, that does what needs to be done,” says Tolga. “This includes all tasks in and out of the winery, for the vineyard, cellar, storage, inventory, and overall property development. Mark’s insight and innovation is that of my father’s, which has truly been a prideful sight to see for us. I’ve known Mark since I was in high school, and only see us continuing to grow this great establishment for the longest period of time I can see ahead.”

The family plans on honouring their father’s memory with a wine made from a blend of the estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, two of Adnan’s favourite grape varieties, from the 2024 vintage. They will simply call it Adnan 60.

I sat down to taste with the Icel family, Gamble and Williamson for a catch-up of the wines that are heavily weighted on the Bordeaux variety red. They are generally released significantly after time in the bottle, when the vintage calls for it, to better show integration of fruit and tannins. And Adnan’s influence from his love of those big, juicy Napa red wines is on full display in the lineup.

Here’s what I liked (all prices are plus HST and bottle deposit):

The white wines

Icellars Chardonnay 2021 ($36, 91 points) — The estate Chardonnay is fermented and aged for 18 months in French oak puncheons. This is a rich, robust style of Chardonnay with a nose of warm apple pie, ripe pear, lemon cream and toasted vanilla bean and spice. It’s rounded and textured on the palate with a melange of ripe orchard fruits, toasted almonds, lemon curd and elegant spice notes on a rounded, long finish. Can drink now or save for two or three years as it integrates further.

Icellars Sauvignon Blanc 2023 ($36, 92 points) — The old-vine Sauvignon Blanc grapes are sourced from a neighbouring vineyard and is aged and fermented in neutral French oak puncheons for 14 months. The nose shows floral lift with notes of grapefruit, pear, passionfruit and light spice notes. It has an elegant, rounded feel on the palate with yellow pear, grapefruit, a touch of flint, subtle kiwi and spice with a bright, lifted finish.

The red wines

Icellars Reserve Pinot Noir 2021 ($53, 92 points) — Shows a lighter shade of red in the glass, common with the 2021 vintage, but a defined nose of brambly/perfumed dark cherries, wild raspberries, cedar accents, earthy/savoury notes, dusty roses and light spices. It’s robust and concentrated on the palate with savoury red berries, crunchy pomegranate, anise, and charred cedar with a silky-smooth texture, a touch of spice and vibrant, long finish. For fans of more assertive Pinot Noirs. Can cellar through 2033.

Icellars Pinot Noir 2017 — We tasted this side by side with the current vintage. With age, it shows more elegance with a nose of ripe black cherries, brambly raspberries, lovely integrated spices, hints of anise, truffles and earth. It’s silky smooth and layered on the palate with ripe cherries, stewed strawberries, wild raspberries, elegant spice, a floral note and length through the finish. Drinking at its peak. Icellars has a deep back vintage program, and you can ask for the older vintages at the tasting room.

Icellars Arinna 2018 ($43, 93 points) — The 2018 Arinna follows in the footsteps of the previous vintage with a blend of Merlot (75%), 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec.  and achieving an alcohol level of 14.3%. All grapes are from the estate’s Icel Vineyard and aged for 24 months in French oak barrels. Arda Icel notes that his dad Adnan absolutely loved the Napa Valley benchmark wines, including Screaming Eagle. “It’s informed our style,” he says. This the first of the big reds from Icellars. Consumers benefit from the late release on all wines from this winery, but particularly the reds. This is in a good place with a defined nose of ripe black cherries, blackberries, cassis, purple plums, baking spices and subtle earthy/savoury notes. It shows wonderful integration on the palate with a balanced attack of ripe red and dark berries, anise/licorice, pure black currants and anise with defined tannins, earthy/savoury notes, toasted vanilla bean and spice on a long, finessed finish. Drinking fine right now but can cellar through 2034.

Note: We also tasted the 2016 version of this, which you can still purchase if you ask at the winery. It’s beautifully integrated, with interesting tertiary notes, ripe red and dark berries, a softer texture and luxurious finish. Drinking great right now but can still evolve favourably over the next few years.

Icellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($49, 93 points) — Sourced from the Icel home vineyard, this late release Cabernet Sauvignon is aged in a combination of French and American oak for 18 months. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape grown at Icellars, with 17 of the 47 acres under vine. It has such purity on the nose with perfumed black currants, forest berries, anise, dark cherries, cocoa, subtle minty herbs and toasted vanilla and spice. It’s concentrated and structured on the palate with integrated dark berries, ripe cherries, fine tannins, black licorice, vanilla-tinged spices, and dark chocolate on a long, lifted finish. Can cellar through 2035.

Icellars Wiyana Wanda 2017 ($100, 94 points) — The blend for the flagship Wiyana Wanda (which means “land of wine”) is sourced from the ripest blocks of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Malbec in the estate vineyard. It’s aged in a combination of French and American oak for the first 12 months and then transferred to 100% French oak for a further 12 months. This wine was created by Adnan after he travelled to famous wine regions and tasted his way through as many wines as he could at some of the most iconic wineries on the planet. One that had a particularly profound impact on him was the famed Opus One winery in Napa Valley. It is the inspiration for this wine, and a nice tribute to his journey to take the winery this far this fast and, frankly, an incredible story of triumph over what would seem the impossible — to make a wine at this level from scratch with limited experience in a country he only arrived in 14 years ago. It has an enticing nose of woodsy/oak perfume followed by persistent fruits of blackberries, jammy black currants, raspberry/strawberry purée, Cuban leaf tobacco, leather, cocoa and rich toasty spice notes. It’s bold, rich, and thick on a structured and complex palate with a medley of ripe, almost compoted dark fruits on the palate, the kind of ripe dark berries you don’t always see in Niagara Cab-based wines, with notes of earth, kirsch, licorice and wonderful oaky spices all layered and leading to a long, finessed finish. It can be enjoyed now but if you save a bottle or two you will be rewarded with a more integrated and very nice Niagara cab blend. Can cellar through 2038.

Icellars Reserve Red 2024 ($20, 89 points) — The Reserve Red is a new wine at an attractive price-point introduced by Icellars for 2024. It can be thought of as a “second wine” to its big brother reds and sourced from newer estate vines (five years old). The blend is 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon that is fermented in Ganimede tanks and aged in neutral French and American oak barrels for six months. It’s a friendly style Bordeaux blend and easily accessible from the get-go with a nose of dark cherries, plums, and cassis with light spice notes. The palate reveals approachable ripe red berries, subtle anise and spice with soft tannins and a juicy, lifted finish.