Andrzej Lipinski
Founder, Winemaker & Owner
Founded Big Head in 2012. Karl Kaiser Canadian Winemaker Award.
“This is the winery building. I am very proud. This is what I live for, pretty much.”
The family behind Big Head
He didn't know anything about wine. Then he built the winery behind Ontario's Red Wine of the Year.
Andrzej Lipinski left Poland in 1989, already married, to give his family a better future. “That time was a little bit tougher in Poland,” he says. “There was not really freedom.”
He started at a winery doing whatever he was asked, and they liked his work. He didn't know anything about wine at the time. He worked to one rule: “Whatever you do, you have to do right, or don't do it.”
By the time he founded Big Head in 2012, people already liked the way he made wine. “So I knew whatever I make, I can sell it.” Since then he has won the Karl Kaiser Canadian Winemaker Award, and in 2024 Big Head took Ontario Red Wine of the Year and Best Chenin Blanc in the World.
Read the transcriptHide the transcript
- 0:11
- Andrzej: So my name is Andrzej Lipinski. I am the winemaker and owner of Big Head Winery.
- 0:27
- Andrzej: I'm Polish, emigrated in '89. I was already married. I want to change and want to get a better future for my family, and that time was a little bit tougher in Poland, as the situation was socialist, so there was not really freedom.
- 0:49
- Andrzej: I start working at the winery, you know, doing whatever they asked me to do. I was doing, and they liked it. And I didn't know anything about the wine at that time.
- 1:02
- Andrzej: Whatever you do, you have to do right, or don't do it.
- 1:07
- Andrzej: Starting winery is always like any business: is risk. I had already following, that people like the way I make the wine. So I knew whatever I make, I can sell it.
- 1:22
- Andrzej: [Andrzej walks through the expansion plans: another tasting room, another cellar, an underground cellar for wine aging and, on the top, another floor for events and restaurants.]
- 1:56
- Andrzej: I want to leave something for my family, for my kids. This is the winery building. I am very proud. This is what I live for, pretty much. And it keeps me going.
- 2:08
- Andrzej: So I want to have that people also remember what I've done. So remember me as a... not average winemaker, some of the top winemaker.
- 2:22
- Andrzej: My son has a great palate as a sommelier. He has a big knowledge about the wine.
- 2:37
- Jakub: My name is Jakub Lipinski, I'm the Managing Director of Big Head Wines, my family's winery.
- 2:42
- Jakub: Growing up with a father that loves winemaking was interesting. Harvest was always fairly chaotic, many dinners spent inside the cellar.
- 2:55
- Jakub: Working side by side with my father, I understand our legacy to be hard work and passion.
- 3:02
- Jakub: We don't cut any corners. We make sure that quality is a focus at every step, because as soon as you start cutting corners you can taste it, you can sense it. We've built up such a strong bond with our audience that a slip would become noticeable.
- 3:17
- Jakub: The future of Big Head Wines is worldwide. We are currently doing exceptionally well in Ontario and across Canada, we're in Quebec and other provinces, but exposing ourselves to other markets, getting into Europe, getting into Asia, South America: those are all places that I think we can do well. It's just getting into those markets that we're working through.
- 3:43
- Jakub: The ideal person I see taking over Big Head is someone that prioritizes quality, someone that is passionate about making the best wine possible, and they will do everything they can to make sure that that's the case.
Jakub Lipinski
Proprietor, Managing Director
Andrzej's son. Grew up in the cellar at harvest, now runs Big Head beside his father.
“We don't cut any corners. We make sure that quality is a focus at every step.”
The next chapter
“The ideal person I see taking over Big Head is someone that prioritizes quality, someone that is passionate about making the best wine possible.”
Jakub Lipinski, Managing Director
You don't start from zero here. You take over a brand a founder spent his life building, a winemaking standard that has already won Ontario Red Wine of the Year, and wine club members who already buy direct. The family has done the hard part. You carry it forward.
