L'Acadie Vineyards Blog

Climate change resilience and organic farming

We have long been supporters of Atlantic Canada Organic Regional Network ACORN, and they have good information on their website - a small excerpt shared below.

Climate change affects vineyards with extreme events such as severe winter damage to vines in British Columbia for the past two years, polar vortex in Nova Scotia last year with similar damage, and droughts in other wine regions of the world. Organic farming  builds resilience AND contributes to a solution, as ACORN describes so well. 

A couple notes about our organic and vegan practices:

• living soils - symbiotic fungi expand root zone influence by 2-10x for more water and nutrient availability, read more
• regenerative agriculture - cover crops between vineyard rows create biodiversity and pull carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soil, watch video about our cover crops
• livestock greenhouse gas generation - we are certified Biocyclic Vegan, no animal products from soil to glass, read more

 

 

Fungus for climate change resilience

The world of fungi is amazing. I always credit kombucha’s yeasty cloudy popularity to wine lovers’ rapid acceptance to similarly cloudy Petillant Naturel wines. And Hollywood’s portrayal of “mind-controlling” fungus in Last of Us has further vaulted fungus to rock star status, a sinister version in this case. Another fungus, a beneficial one, called mycorrhiza lives in soil and has a critical symbiotic relationship with roots to help vines access water and nutrients especially during drought and other extremes from climate change. This is a true rock star.

 

When plants made that difficult evolutionary step from a nutrient-rich marine environment to a relatively harsh soil home, they had to make an alliance with microbes in the soil to survive. Mycorrhizal fungi grows into root cells to access carbohydrates from the vine, and in exchange, root zone influence of the vine expands to 3-10 times with a complex network of fungus filaments. I call this microbial terroir. Water, nutrients and “flavours” in soil are more accessible for the vine.

 

Organic practices at our Gaspereau vineyard encourage this living soil, rather than the conventional approach of ignoring microbes and following a regime of feeding vines directly with readably accessible synthetic fertilizers. The microbes seem to know – decreasing their relationship with the roots, almost sensing that they are not needed to cycle nutrients for the vine. Same outcome with animal manures. Other practices that kill fungi are tilling excessively between vineyard rows rather than using a constant cover crop and using herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup). We make plant-based compost teas, a veganic approach, to inoculate vines with beneficial fungi – crowding out disease organisms on leaves and further enhancing soil and roots. It's why we are Biocyclic Vegan

Strengthening our microbial terroir helps our vines be more resilient to climate change. Accessibility to nutrients and water is enhanced and that's especially important with extreme weather events.

Here's an article about research in Portugal, 

The microbes that could protect grapevines from climate change

Earth Day- be a part of the solution

Earth Day: April 22, 2023

Atmospheric CO2: 420ppm

 

 

We all want to be part of the solution to help Mother Earth. If you were born in the 60’s, atmospheric CO2 was 320ppm, now it’s 420ppm. We are on the wrong path, as NASA describes in this dramatic graph.

 

 L'Acadie Vineyards makes organic and vegan wines, from soil to glass, for people who care. Delicious healthful wine that you'll be proud to serve for memorable occasions knowing that you are part of the solution.

 

It's simple to get our wines to be a part of the solution today, 

1. Choose our organic wine – look for the Canada Organic symbol on the bottle, every one of our wines has it. It means rigorous inspections, transparency and traceability
2. Buy at wine bars and restaurants, private wine stores, online, direct from our Gaspereau winery, and NSLC
3. Enjoy our delicious organic wine with friends and family along with organic food. Share your experience to amplify your impact for change.

Here is the difference you’ll be making. When you purchase organic food like our organic vegan wine you are contributing to a greener planet.

• Grapes are one of the dirty dozen – 12 fruits and vegetables that are heavily sprayed with pesticides and you can avoid those residual pesticides in your wine by buying organic.
• Pesticides can contaminate groundwater and poison your community’s drinking water.
• Our vegan wines certified by Biocyclic Vegan International don’t use animal manures in growing grapes or the many animal ingredients commonly used for winemaking. Large scale livestock farming has been proven to generate 14% of greenhouse gases.

Make a difference today. Be a part of the solution for Mother Earth and enjoy delicious wine today. We've done the hard work so it's easier for you.

Order here