Karl Kaiser and the birth of the modern Canadian wine industry

In Europe, grape growing has been going for on hundreds, if not thousands of years. The growers of today benefit from the wealth of knowledge passed down from generation to generation. 
In newer regions, growers start from scratch; I consider anyone establishing a winery in a region under 50 years old as a pioneer.
But what about being the absolute first? 
Austrian-born Karl Kaiser, along with partner Donald Ziraldo, have achieved many firsts. Inniskillin, the winery they started, was the first since the 1920s to receive a winery licence in Ontario. Despite most people telling them they were crazy, they were the first to successfully grow and make wine out of European vinifera vines like Chardonnay, Gamay and Riesling. 
It was Kaiser who shaped the method of icewine making, and in 1991, received international accolades for his 1989 icewine that put Niagara on the world map. 
And along with Ziraldo, Kaiser spearheaded the …