L'Acadie Vineyards Blog

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

Discovering Rocks

 

Discovering Rocks

Our journey to find our unique terroir started when were still living in BC’s Okanagan Valley. Vacations to visit family in Nova Scotia always included visiting local wineries such as Domaine de Grand Pre and enjoying their delicious L’Acadie Blanc still wines - beautiful dry fruity wines with balanced crisp acidity that reminded me of the ideal structure for sparkling base wines that I pursued in Okanagan and sometimes failed to find. These wines were grown on typical heavy soils with loamy clay on south slopes and today I believe intense fruit expression from those sites is partially from soil water holding capacity and vigour. We were looking for a property to grow Nova Scotia’s first sparkling wine, so sipping wine and discussing soils late into the night centred on sparkling and where for OUR L’Acadie Blanc. I had experienced the effects of site and soil on wine characteristics in my BC career many times, a good example is Pinot Noir with drying tannins made from sandy soils of the hot Black Sage Bench sub-appellation compared to the more luscious juicy Pinot Noir from heavier soils and cooler days in adjacent Similkameen Valley. I also understood the importance of harmony in a sparkling base wine – the balance between fruit expression and bottle aging toastiness, an ever-changing dance that can be shifted unfavourably with too much fruit intensity with varieties such as, but not limited to, muscat. Yes, a European approach, but I was making sparkling with European varieties such as Chardonnay and Riesling and tried to maintain typicity. Guiding all of our discussions was a conviction to do it organically, for better flavours like I had seen winemaking at Summerhill Pyramid Winery, and for our family and our future neighbours' health.

We found our 30 acres of Gaspereau paradise online in BC. It was listed as a tourist accommodation business, hobby horse farm and residence, and the horse pasture caught our eye for grapes with thankfully no interventions on the land for years and protected from conventional agriculture with robust buffers. Many investigations later revealed rocky well-drained soil on a bench sloping 5% northwest, a uniquely different aspect and soil than rich clay-dominant vineyards on the other side of Gaspereau Valley and counter to the manta of the time “need south slope, need south slope”. Bubbling up from mixed local wine grower opinions was the long-standing history of good producing now removed apple trees on the property by the Duncanson family 50-100 years ago and our knowledge of matching soil, varietal and wine style. We took a chance that the terroir would give us the sparklings that we envisioned - mineral, saline.

Read more about why Nova Scotia sparkling, Cooler Climate Nova Scotia

Next year marks 20 years and our decision to plant organic L’Acadie Blanc on these soils has been validated with numerous international sparkling awards. It hasn’t been easy for the vines as they slowly stretched their roots straight down deep through schist, sandstone, slate and gravels. Now they are strongly rooted with symbiotic fungal network filaments that extend their reach for nutrients, making them more resilient to climate change and, more immediately apparent, sourcing and expressing their terroir very clearly. Wine judges have been noticing our flavours especially in organic wine Prestige Brut Estate (PBE) sourced from the same block every year with more topsoil (8 vs 6 inches) and more vigour than other blocks on the property.

Read more about climate change, Climate Change and Nova Scotia Sparkling

 “Open and powerful nose with grilled hazelnut, pineapple, lemon and honey” 2010 PBE, Effervescent du Monde, silver

 "A floral, apple nose with chalky lemon and creamy pear on the refreshing, mineral palate." 2013 PBE, Decanter, 92 points

"Complex apple, peach, nut and citrus bouquet with a toasty palate and fine mousse" 2014 PBE, Decanter, 92 points

 "Perfumed with rose, white peach and toast; and a bright palate of zesty lime zest and apple." 2015 PBE, Decanter, 88 points

"Pretty and attractive, with white fruit, honey melon, chalky green apple and lifted floral aromatics lead through to a palate of vibrant acidity, citrus curd and a fine, saline finish." 2017 PBE, Decanter, 95 points

Minerality and more focused terms such as electricity, vibrancy and zesty can be used to describe our terroir and as well as an underlying descriptor of slight saline related to ancient seabed origins of our mainly sedimentary rocks. We continue to build the soil and rhizosphere with vegan viticulture inputs of composted grape pomace teeming with microorganisms and humus to nurture topsoil and below. This topsoil on top of rocky profiles is analogous to Champagne’s Grand Cru parcels with their topsoil over chalky soil and provides a living window to the surface contributing crucial elements such as atmospheric nitrogen fixed by clover and other plants in our cover crops. 

To say we are excited about the future gifts our vineyard will yield is an understatement. Roots will get deeper and source more flavours, and we have expanded the estate to include new plantings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, my old friends.

Gold for Vintage Cuvee

 

Gold for Vintage Cuvee 92 points!

 

New release 2020 Vintage Cuveé recently won a gold award with 92 points from Wine Align, the National Wine Awards of Canada! This award marks the fourth year in a row of 90 points or more for our Vintage Cuvée and we are very proud of this long-time favourite.

 

Here's what the judges are saying:

"Surprising amount of fruit in this Blanc de Blancs based on L'Acadie Blanc with (13 percent) Seyval Blanc. Fine aromatic grip surrounds a mix of stone and also green fruit but what is most special here is the intensity of the bubble and fine purity of the lees. Would never see this as autolytic, oxidative or yeasty but only in terms of salty, marine airy excitement. Oysters are an ideal match. Drink 2023-2029."

~Michael Godel

 

"Fresh white floral aromatics with an umami lean on the nose. The wine communicates refreshment on the palate with bright, crunchy acidity. Tasty wine, not terribly complex. There is a lot of talk about hybrids these days with climate change and a great example of how the bar is being raised every vintage with these varieties."

~Jenna Briscoe

 

This top-selling Nova Scotian traditional method sparkling wine is a premium blend of organic Estate L'Acadie Blanc & Seyval Blanc. With characteristic aged brioche from 2 years on the lees, this organic wine displays fine bubbles from natural fermentation in the bottle. Crisp apple & juicy orange with lemon zest on the finish. Pairs well with our famous maritime seafood and as a celebration on its own!

Available for purchase at our Gaspereau winery wineshop & online, as well as at Bishop's Cellar, Harvest Wines, Liquid Assets & select NSLC stores.

Available by the glass in Wolfville at Juniper & Troy, and in Lunenburg at the Grand Banker & Old Fish Factory.

Cheers!

How to Serve Sparkling Wine

Opening

Keep your hand on the cork! Release the cage with one hand and keep the other hand on the cork. Hold it and twist the bottle until you feel the pressure pushing it out. Get the perfect "pffftt" like a master sommelier, or a crowd pleasing "pop!" by letting it come out slower or faster. This video from our friends at Taste of Nova Scotia is a good primer on opening a bottle of sparkling,

 

Pouring

Always chill sparkling wines to fridge temperatures (4C) to enhance retention of bubbles. A flute is ideal but larger glass bowls better coax the aromas from well-aged wines like Prestige Brut Estate . Make sure the glass is clean and doesn't have soap residue. A full serving is 4 ounces (120ml) and to enhance enjoyment of aromas only fill to 1/3 to 1/2 full....and fill more often. Pro tip: tilt the glass and gently pour to preserve bubbles. No need to swirl - the bubbles will bring the toasty aromas to your nose.

Storing

Use a champagne stopper that secures onto the glass ring of the bottle, the same area that the wire cage held onto.....avoid expanding-style of stoppers - they can become rockets if too much pressure builds. Should keep for 3-5 days in fridge.

Champagne stopper available in our wineshop

Food Pairings

Many seafoods pair well with sparkling wine - "what grows together, goes together" is a favourite maritime expression. Think mussels, lobsters and oysters. But don't stop there - consider any food that has a salty component like potato chips and popcorn. Of course mild chesses are always a hit with guests, especially an assortment of soft cheeses. For curried and spicy dishes, choose our most aromatic sparklings like Rose Brut, or consider trying our traditional method cider, Duncanson Brook Cider

Visit our Recipe page for ideas such as Vegan Carbonara paired with Joie de Vivre charmat sparkling

2015 Prestige Brut Estate Wins Bronze at 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards in London, England

 

We are pleased that our 2015 Prestige Brut Estate earned a bronze and 88 points at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards held in London, England. Scoring in the top 15 sparkling wines in Canada at this prestigious wine competition, this is the third vintage in a row for our organic and vegan Prestige Brut Estate to be awarded. Grapes are from the same block of our organic and vegan estate vineyard planted with L’Acadie blanc in 2006 on ancient seabed soil of schist, sandstone and slate gravels.

“We bought our 30 acres of paradise in Gaspereau back in 2004 inspired by the soil and location potential for sparkling wine. It is so satisfying to earn international awards for our sparkling wines that are rooted over a metre deep into organic living soil.”, Bruce Ewert, co-owner and winemaker L’Acadie Vineyards.

 

Pop the Cork on Canadian Sparkling Wine by Janet Dorozynski

Great timely article by sommelier and wine judge Janet Dorozynski on Canadian sparkling wine. 2014 Prestige Brut Estate, our organic and vegan wine, is recommended!! Especially significant considering the world shortage of sparkling wine this season. Choose local wine, from wineries in Nova Scotia.

Read article

Here's her wine review when 2014 Prestige Brut Estate was released last year,

"The 2014 Prestige Brut Estate from @lacadiewine is a thrilling and elegant traditional method #fizz made from 100 % L"Acadie Blanc that is aged sur lie for 69 months (long aging is a competitive sport among sparkling winemakers in Nova Scotia [🥂] ). Intense citrus, flinty and saline aromatics with a touch of toastiness. Bone dry and lively, with well defined and integrated acidity and fine bubbles. A perfect #sparklingwine for lovers of Brut Nature or zero dosage with 2g/litre residual sugar. If the 2014 is anything like past vintages I've tasted it will continue to develop and improve for a decade and then some. Certified #organic by Procert and #veganfriendly. Well done Bruce and team!"

She is a wine critic on Wine Align and rated it 94 points, and it also received 92 points at Decanter World Wine Awards. 2021 award winner of the Lieutenant Governor's Award of Excellence