1

Gordon Johnston, "It Happened in Canada"
1967
London, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Estate of Gordon Johnston

2

From the Ashes - The Rebirth of a Tradition

It was in 1967 that saw the Centennial year of Canada and the inception of the Township of Pelee Island and 99 years since the completed building of Vin Villa. It was also in this commemorative year that Gordon Johnston created a single panel comic strip, 'It Happened in Canada', to celebrate the achievements of our great Nation. It is in this panoply of historical facts that Gordon Johnston brings back into the Canadian consciousness, in an almost Paul Bunyan sort of way, the story of Thaddeus Smith and Vin Villa. Vin Villa may have been in ruin but its shadow was long and reached out in search of someone to awaken the tradition that it had started 100 years ago. The tendrils would have to reach out far and wide but it was in the latter half of the 1970's when that someone would answer the call: one Walter Strehn of Deutschkreutz, Austia. A larger than life character by all accounts, stepped onto the path that Thaddeus Smith had laid. The Strehn family was in the wine making business in Austria and Walter was looking to start a winery of his own in Canada. It was through a mutual friend, George Piller, who knew about Pelee Island and its wine-making history that led Walter to investigate the potential of starting his winery there. After scouting around and comparing the Niagara region to the Lake Erie shore and to Pelee Island, Mr. Stehn went ahead and bought land on the Island of Pelee in autumn of 1979.

3

Wild Grapes
24 October 2011
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

4

Strehn, Walter
Circa 1984
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Kingsville Reporter
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

5

The next spring, a variety of grape roots were imported from Germany: Johannisberg Riesling, Kerner, Pinot Noir, Gewrtztraminer, Scheurebe, and Zweigelt were chosen. A total of 86 acres of vineyard was planted that season, making it the largest single planting of Vitis vinifera vines in Canada. And so it came, "About 110 years after the first wine was made of Pelee Island by Thaddeus Smith, Walter Strehn again was making wine from Island grapes. This time, during the autumn of 1982, the wine was made near Kingsville in a barn belonging to Mr. Strehn. Grapes were picked in October on the Island, pressed in the field, and shipped via the Pelee Islander to the mainland. With Wolfgang Moritz and Ron Tiessen at his side, a Riesling was the first wine to be made. That inaugural harvest produced about 25,000 bottles of wine. In the next year the harvest would be almost tenfold larger. The new list of wines featured a Riesling, a Riesling Dry, A Riesling Late Harvest, a Pinot Noir, and a blended vintage, Vin Villa, that recalled the Island's former renown.

It was the connection to George Piller, who was childhood friend's in Yugoslavia with the Pollinger family, that would prove to be Mr. Stehn's best ally. It was the Pollinger family that had immigrated to Canada and lived for a time on Pelee Island. It was on Pelee that George Piller came to visit and learned of the Islands wine making and unique grape growing climate, thus leading to telling Mr. Strehn about it. The connection continues with the introduction of Eugene Whelan, whom Elizabeth Pollinger married, to Walter Strehn. Mr. Whelan was the Minister of Agriculture at the time and helped Mr. Strehn navigate the bureaucratic waters to get a license for making wine. The year was 1983 and the Pelee Island Winery label was reborn. After that, property was bought and the winery building was constructed on Highway 18, just on the edge of Kingsville's town line. For the wine cellar a cooper in Austria was hired. First he made the casks and then for transporting them to Kingsville he disassemble them. The casks and himself were flown over for reassembly in the new Kingsville winery. On those casks the names of the founding members of the Pelee Island Winery were carved: Walter Strehn and his father Josef Strehn, George Piller, Joe Mayer and Don Martin. Also, for his support and assistance to the winery the Hon. Eugene Whelan's name is also there.

6

Barn
25 October 2011
Kingsville, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

7

Pelee Island Winery
1984
Kingsville, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

8

Wine Cask dedicated to Walter Strehn
1984
Kingsville, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

9

Pelee Island Winery Casks
1984
Kingsville, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Jeff Hasulo
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

10

There are several characteristics that make the Pelee Island Winery unique: First, it is the only Winery in Canada that has to ship its grapes across water to its winery. Secondly, the unique climate of the Island has earned it its own appellation. Third, it is Canada's largest privately owned winery at 550 acres of vineyards (and still growing). Lastly, it was the first to produce the first commercial quality Vidal Icewine in Canada.

It was in 1983 when Walter Strehn, not only was continuing a historic tradition of wine making, but made history by harvesting and making the first Icewine. Icewine is a sweet wine that is made from frozen grapes that are harvested in the dead of winter and then pressed.

Pelee Island Winery wasn't the only winery to set up shop on the Island. In 1994, the Pelee Agra Vineyard planted 200 acres. They planted all vitis vinifera varieties like Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zweigelt and Cabernet Franc.

11

Braud Grape Harvester
15 September 2011
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

12

Harvester unloading grapes
15 September 2011
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

13

Migrant workers tending vines
15 September 2011
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum

14

Migrant Workers tending grape vines
2011-sep-15
Pelee Island, Ontario

Credits:
Pelee Island Heritage Museum