L'Acadie Vineyards Blog

Learn how we make our Charmat Method Sparkling Wines - video

 

Visit our sparkling page to learn more about our two charmat method sparkling wines, Joie de Vivre and La Vie en Rose

Learn how we make our Traditional Method Sparkling Wines - video

 

Learn more about our iconic certified Biocyclic Vegan and organic traditional method sparkling wines

From the birthplace of Nova Scotia sparkling.

 

LACADIE VINEYARDS A Nova Scotia family winery with 20 years of sparkling wine and sustainability - video

Grower sparkling wine - our model

 

Our provincial liquor store has many sparkling wine options from large companies such as from Champagne but rarely will you find a Grower Champagne – small scale producers preserving family farming traditions and growing the grapes that go into the bottle. Our grower sparkling winery in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia parallels these interesting French wines.

Large sparkling wine brands such as Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Mumm buy most of their grapes from contracted growers for large scale bottle production shipped around the world. This disconnect is the main difference with grower sparkling wines.

Terroir

You create a sense of place, or terroir, in a wine when you focus on a single vineyard. For example, grapes for our Prestige Brut Estate are always sourced from the same vineyard block with 20 cm topsoil over an ancient seabed- a unique composition of slate, schist and sandstone gravels. These wines have minerality and slight saline characters that international wine judges have identified and awarded. Grape growing is thus extremely important since grapes that we nurture are transparently showcased for judge and consumer approval.

• Terroir - a moment
• Terroir and organics

Sustainability

We farm organically – we understand the quality stakes and we want to preserve our land for family succession. Our organic vineyard has been organic since inception 20 years ago and in 2021 we achieved another level of sustainability - certified Biocyclic Vegan, soil to glass. We grow grapes with cover crops for regenerative agriculture and living soils, plant-based teas and no animal manures, and encourage biodiversity. Organic wines express their terroir better than chemical dependent vineyards.

• Why we are Biocyclic Vegan

Recently disgorged

Disgorging is the last process of sparkling wine production to remove yeast from the bottle, add dosage (sweetened wine), insert  the cork and wire cage, and get ready to release the new vintage. Bottles usually rest on cork for about a month to marry flavours with dosage before release. Large sparkling wineries distribute their bottles around the world and they sit on cork for several years developing a richer honeyed character. Smaller wineries have the ability to sell bottles direct with less time on cork. These recently disgorged bottles are sought after for their freshness. 

• Recently disgorged

Vintage Dated

Large sparkling wineries are well branded and marketed with elevated prices. People buy them for brand recognition. There is a consistent flavour profile by blending reserve wines that are held back from past years. These non-vintage wines differ from vintage-dated grower sparkling wines where the growing season is showcased, and celebrated. Much like how a single vineyard gives a sense of place with unique terroir, vintage dates reflect what Mother Nature offered during that growing season. Winemaking has to be in top form to harness these gifts by deciding on variables such as harvest dates, fermentation temperature, lees contact time and dosage levels added at disgorging for balance.

 

Matching style, variety and soil

20 years of style, variety and soil

This year marks 20 years since we drove across Canada from an established winemaking career in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia to acquire our piece of paradise in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia. Fallow farm land ready for us to plant the province’s first organic vineyard, and our decisions on wine style and variety are standing the test of time.

Time honoured traditions of old world wine regions dictate suitable varieties and wine styles for individual appellations and sub appellations, usually evolving from trial and error of matching them to intrinsically unique soils and microclimates. We made an informed decision, some might call it bold, in 2004 by drawing upon years of sparkling winemaking experience in the Okanagan Valley that the 30 acres in Gaspereau would produce world class sparkling wine. Our palette: uniquely well-drained ancient seabed gravels covered with 15-30 cm loamy top soil tilted 5% towards north west. The industry mantra at that time was “south slope” but I had been making wine from different slopes for years – south for hot-loving reds, north and east for whites, and quite often struggled with grapes planned for sparkling wine production that were ripening too fast, losing fruitiness and freshness. The slope direction seemed like a good fit and it was the soil, schist, sandstone and slate that sealed the idea of suitability for sparkling wine. Wine flavours are influenced by climate and grape variety, and soil comes in a close third. We anticipated minerality nuances, a proven wine characteristic in great wines of the world, and international judges are noticing.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2018, London, England – 92 points, Silver Medal for 2013 Prestige Brut Estate

Judges’ notes, "A floral, apple nose with chalky lemon and creamy pear on the refreshing, mineral palate." 

There was risk that the soil would not retain enough moisture compared to the typical rich clay-loam soils around us but even though the young vines struggled during establishment they grew deep roots for resilience to future climate extremes like drought. That coupled with our living soils encouraged with organic farming practice bodes well for climate change resilience. Roots are supported by colonies of fungus living symbiotically, helping water, nutrient....and flavour uptake.

Read more about Climate change resilience and organic farming

On our many visits to Nova Scotia to visit family before we moved back, we got to know the region’s signature grape variety, L’Acadie Blanc, and we’d talk long into the night about whether and how we could make it into a world-class sparkling wine. There wasn’t a bubble in the province at that time but we saw the potential – freshness, apple, citrus, moderate alcohol. Our second bold decision was initially planting 8 acres of exclusively L’Acadie Blanc for sparkling wine at a time when most of the region was planting multiple varieties for blending versatility and more selection of varietal wines. We foresaw traditional method sparkling wine to be the defining style for our region, in particular, L’Acadie Blanc cuvees.

There have been many milestones in the last 20 years that have proven our decisions,

• 2005 – established Nova Scotia’s first organic vineyard
• 2008 – opened sustainable winery with geothermal heating and cooling and insulated concrete construction
• 2008 – released Nova Scotia’s first traditional method sparkling
• 2008 – Nova Scotia’s first appassimento wines. First releases of Alchemy and Passito from our 5-year appassimento research project with Agriculture Canada and collaboration with Italian researchers.
• 2010 – gold and top scoring sparkling for 2007 Prestige Brut at 2010 National Wine Awards. A first for Nova Scotia.
• 2011 – silver medal for 2007 Prestige Brut at 2011 Effervescents du Monde (Dijon, France) First international sparkling award for Nova Scotia.
• 2015 – silver medal for 2010 Prestige Brut zero dosage at 2015 Effervescents du Monde.
• 2021 - Certified to European Biocyclic Vegan standard, the first farm and winery in North America. Read more about our vegan wines, Why we are Biocyclic Vegan
• 2023 – gold medal, 95 points for 2017 Prestige Brut Estate at 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards. First gold medal for Nova Scotia from Decanter, after earning many silver awards and 92-point designations for previous vintages.

Meet Eva and her favourite wine

We have the best wineshop staff. And some are bilingual, very appreciated by french-speaking visitors from the French shore of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Europe and Quebec. Every month we invite a staff member to pick their favourite wine and create a social media post...staff picks!. Meet Eva and her favourite wine La Vie en Rose, a charmat method sparkling wine, certified Biocyclic Vegan and organic.

Visit us at our Gaspereau winery in the heart of Nova Scotia wine country and say hi to Eva. Wine tours and wine tastings can be booked in advance (highly recommended) to ensure a memorable experience. Make a day out of it, visit other Annapolis Valley wineries and nearby Wolfville, home of Acadia University.

 

 

 

 

 

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Petillant Naturel - new release

The most natural wine in Canada!   Pet Nat 2023 is certified Biocyclic Vegan and organic, wild ferment, no intervention, not disgorged - on its lees. 100% estate L'Acadie Blanc

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meet Luci and her favourite wine

Meet our wineshop supervisor Luci and her favourite wine, 2019 Rose Brut, traditional method sparkling wine..this month's staff pick! She will give you an awesome wine experience with her passion and knowledge when you visit our Gaspereau winery in the heart of Nova Scotia wine country near Wolfville. 

 Booking wine tastings and wine tours is highly recommended. 

All of our wines are vegan and organic

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Disgorging Vintage Cuvee

Decanter- Canada Calling: The wines exciting the experts now

 

 

Proud to represent Nova Scotia wine in this Decanter article highlighting 15 Canadian wines that scored 95 points or more at the Decanter World Wine Awards earlier this year. Prestige Brut Estate 2017 award winning sparkling wine with an impressive 95 points and gold is the first ever Decanter gold for Nova Scotia wineries. It is an organic and vegan wine.

Learn more, or order 2017 Prestige Brut Estate

Read related blog about our big win Gold at Decanter world wine awards

Read Decanter article Canada calling: The wines exciting the experts now