L'Acadie Vineyards Blog

Update from the Vineyard - late summer

 

Celebrating 20 years since moving back to Nova Scotia this year, and next year 20 years since planting for sparkling on our rocky soil. This harvest will be extra special as we slide into late summer putting up nets and final tweaking crop levels. It has been a great growing season except for high mildew pressures with rains and humidity but our organic practices have controlled it and our well-drained soil handled those +100mm rain events. Even planning on over-the-row netting for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir this year! (wine club members will be excited for more small lots)

Read blog about why we chose our rocky vineyard 20 years ago, Discovering Rocks

 

We planted more Seyval Blanc this year mainly for Tidal Bay and interplanted Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and some Chardonnay to replace vines from the polar vortex last year. Wine club members have been enjoying 2021 sparklings from first harvests of these blocks. Vineyard supervisor Chris planted cilantro and dill at end posts to attract phylloxera predators and we hope to try sweet alyssum next year recommended by our friends at Biocyclic Vegan.

Beautiful time to visit our winery near Wolfville. Book a guided tasting

Sante,

Bruce

Sparkling Club for August

August is wine club shipment month and winemaker Bruce Ewert introduces the organic vegan wines that Sparkling Club members will be receiving. 

We have three wine clubs, Sparkling Club, L'Acadie Club and Star Club, for those that prefer to choose their own wines.

Join here

 

 

 

 

 

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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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Horsetail Tea

Horsetail tea: a weed rich in silica that we harvest from our property to give our organic vineyard more resistance to disease. Watch post video on our Instagram account showing how we dry, steep and filter horsetail tea as part of our Biocyclic Vegan practices.

 

 

 

 

 

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Effervescents du Monde - Nova Scotia's first international sparkling awards

 

 

 

Effervescents du Monde is a prestigious competition of the best sparkling wines in the world and in 2011 and again in 2015 L'Acadie Vineyards turned heads by claiming silver medals for their Prestige Brut and the first international sparkling awards for Nova Scotia!

 

 

 

 

 

The 2007 and 2010 vintages of Prestige Brut that won at the competitions were superb and put Nova Scotia wine region on the sparkling wine map. Since then there have been continuous accolades and more awards for more recent vintages, namely multiple times at Decanter World Wine Awards in London where the 2017 Prestige Brut Estate won Gold and 95 points, the first Decanter gold medal for Nova Scotia, the highest level of quality achievement. 

 

 

The matrix of factors and decisions was deliberate to achieve this highest level of quality,

• Bruce Ewert earned similar wine awards when he was an experienced sparkling winemaker in the Okanagan Valley.
• Bruce and family indentified that L'Acadie Blanc was ideal for sparkling while on investigative trips to Nova Scotia and tasting still wine versions from Annapolis Valley wineries in the early 2000's before there was a bubble in the province. We were the first to release sparkling wine in 2008!
• L'Acadie Vineyards estate in Gaspereau was chosen for its rocky well-drained soil. Schist, sandstone, slate, and ancient seabed. In 2017 test holes revealed roots going deep, over 3 feet.
• Farming organically and now Biocyclic Vegan as well encourages a heathly living soil so terroir mineral characters are amplified
• Prestige Brut comes from the same estate block every year, traditional method sparkling with aging for 5 years in a underground tirage cellar.

 

 

20 Years - Milestones along our journey

This year, this month, marks 20 years since we drove across Canada from an established winemaking career in the Okanagan Valley to acquire our piece of paradise in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia. Each year on July 21 our family celebrates that coming-home milestone and next year our winery will be celebrating the formal establishment of L’Acadie Vineyards – 20 year anniversary of planting organic vines for sparkling wine in 2005.

Many milestones in the last 20 years, here are the highlights,

• 2005 – Established Nova Scotia’s first organic vineyard. Certified organic from inception.
• 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 with 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.
• 2023 – Gold medal, 95 points for 2017 Prestige Brut Estate at 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards. First gold medal and highest level of achievement for Nova Scotia sparkling from Decanter, after earning silver and 92 points for multiple previous vintages.

 

Introducing Reward Points

 

It just got easier to be a part of our organic wine family in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia. We want to honour our valued repeat customers who care what is in their glass and are making a difference by purchasing local, organic, Biocyclic Vegan wine. Now when you shop in our wineshop and online store you earn loyalty points - the more often you shop the greater the rewards.

 Points are redeemable on all wines, tastings, tours, merchandise and more! Look for deals with bonus points, delicious rewards and more.

 

How it works,

Step 1: Purchase online or in our wineshop. It’s that easy to start your account.

Step 2: Earn reward points with every purchase.

Step 3: Redeem your rewards for wine, tastings, tours, merchandise and more, anytime you like.

Start earning rewards today!

Interplanting Chardonnay

We interplanted Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay this year to replace grape vines killed by the polar vortex winter of 2023. More planting planned for next year.

Here's a short video of how we did it. 

True Cost of Organic

True Cost of Organic

 

Beauty shot of L'Acadie Blanc in bloom photobombed by bee, 2024

 

Our Gaspereau vineyard has been organic from inception -  20 years next year since planting the first organic vineyard in Nova Scotia!  Costs are substantial compared to conventional wineries but our drive comes from the heart and we wouldn't do it any other way. Here are some examples of the costs for organic wine,

Farming Practices

The organic approach is to manage a heathly living soil so that it provides for the vines. We brew plant-based grape pomace compost and horsetail teas, all from our property, to inoculate soil and protect leaves and clusters. 

Pests are monitored and biodiversity is encouraged to attract natural predators with selected cover crops between rows, herbal plots of cilantro and dill, and natural forest.

Certification Costs

We have two levels of organic certifiication - producer (vineyard) and processor (winemaking). Both have rigorous inpections and audits including mass and traceability. The organic logo on every one of our bottles is the end result and shows our customers transparency and integrity. 

Organic certification is required to be able to be certified to the Biocyclic Vegan International standard, an added level of sustainability that has costs such as sourcing organic cane sugar for sparkling tirage liqueur that has not been filtered through bone char. Their logo is on our bottles to show transparency of our vegan wine.

Environmental Stewardship

There are many pesticides available for conventional wineries that protect vines from within (systemic) and there are residues in wine and groundwater. Only naturally occuring contact inputs are allowable for organic and they can be costly.

 

The Canada Organic logo is 15 years old this year and Choose Canada Organic is celebrating. Our winemaker Bruce was on the working committee with other organic winemakers across Canada to decide on standards. Visit their site for more information.