Dried Grape Wines

Appasimento, Vin de Cure, raisin and straw wines are all European terms describing wines made from dried grapes. We identified the need to investigate new red wine styles before we opened our winery and a chance encounter in the hallways of Agriculture Canada in 2004 with Dr. Robert Prange, who had just returned from Italy, started an multi-year research project on drying Nova Scotia red grapes with collaboration from Agriculture Canada, National Research Council and NS Department of Agriculture.

The initial releases from this project are Alchemy, an Amarone-style red wine, Eclipse, a Ripasso-style red wine made from the dried Amarone skins, and Soleil, a Recioto-style white dessert wine. These are the first dried grape wines in Nova Scotia and one of the first in Canada. Awards to date have been medals at the Canadian Wine Awards, All Canada Wine Championships and Atlantic Wine Championships including Double Gold for Soleil and Golds for Alchemy and Eclipse and accolades have included a Globe and Mail feature and glowing reviews in Wine Access magazine.