Icewine revolutionary enters the cannabis field
Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp has named Niagara-on-the-Lake’s own Donald Ziraldo as its new chair of the board of directors.
Ziraldo, who is well-known for revolutionizing the Niagara wine industry with icewine, said he thought the cannabis industry would be an interesting challenge, especially given its similarities to the wine industry.
Both are agricultural crops that, when extracted, become controlled substances.
Ziraldo said he actually did delve into cannabis years ago, working with Joe Mimran from Dragons’ Den at Cannasat.
“The company was a bit ahead of its time,” he said of Cannasat.
“It is a good thing I did not get into the icewine business ahead of its time. Timing is everything.”
Ziraldo joined the advisory board for Cannacure last year, which ultimately merged with Heritage.
Since then he said a number of cannabis organizations had approached him to join their teams, but he was attracted to Heritage because it has locations in Niagara and in B.C.
This allows for national coverage, he said.
It also helped that when he first visited the Fort Erie facility, he discovered it had been previously owned by a good friend of his, Nick DiPietro of Patheon Pharmaceuticals.
This was somewhat of a good omen that helped him make his decision, he said.
Now, Ziraldo is focused on building a vertically-integrated company — meaning the company also owns the supply chain — focused on investments that yield the best return.
“The industry is very, very young and there is a lot of trial and error,” he said, adding that considerable research is still required in the agriculture and greenhouse sectors as well as the medical applications.
But as someone with a personal medical permit for CBD who cancelled his neck surgery after experiencing decreased inflammation, Ziraldo said he believes CBD will become a significant replacement for anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication.