L'Acadie Vineyards Blog

A Note from our Summer Intern

Hello, my name is Matt and I am the Clean Leadership summer intern at L’Acadie Vineyards. Throughout the summer I have learned a lot about growing and maintaining our certified organic Gaspereau vineyard, and how to preserve its natural ecology - which fits well into my recent degree in Biology from Dalhousie University.

One of the many projects I have been working on is the production of grape pomace nutrient tea. The purpose of this tea is to extract the beneficial microorganisms and micronutrients from composted grape skins (pomace) that are composted after each harvest, as well as from forest soils behind the vineyard. After steeping and aerating the mixture, we apply it to our vineyard to help crowd out potentially harmful microorganisms and pathogens with the beneficial ones in the tea. This all-natural, vegan and organic nutrient boost helps to preserve natural ecology of our vineyard including living soils and emphasizes terroir flavours in our grapes. 

It has been an amazing 15 weeks here at L’Acadie Vineyards and I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to work here this summer. I look forward to what the future brings to the Wolfville vineyard and what new and exciting projects will be implemented.

 

Receive a Winery Tasting Voucher for Two to Celebrate 2020 Tidal Bay Launch

 

We are celebrating the launch of 2020 Tidal Bay from wineries in Nova Scotia with fun offers from Wine Growers of Nova Scotia! Purchase 6 bottles of our organic wine including at least one bottle of Tidal Bay before the end of June from our website for shipping or curbside pickup to get the following offers, 

• Receive a voucher for a wine tasting experience for two at our Gaspereau winery.  We hope to be opening for tastings in late June in Phase Two of Nova Scotia`s Reopening Plan and our employees have been vaccinated for at least two weeks.

• Also receive a Wine Growers of Nova Scotia Ice Bag with shipped orders or two branded wine glasses with curbside pickup orders. While supplies last.

• Free Shipping for 6 bottles or more in Canada until end of June

• Mark your calendars for Live Tidal Bay Tastings and listen to winemaker Bruce Ewert on June 18

 

SHOP NOW

 

A new Sparkling Style

We are excited to announce that we will be releasing Joie de Vivre, a new sparkling style this summer - Charmat Method! The second fermentation will occur in specialized pressure tanks instead of traditional method sparkling bottles to produce natural bubbles the same way that Prosecco is made.

Joie de Vivre: noun [zwahduh vee-vruh] joy of living; a delight in being alive. We can all use more Joie de Vivre moments in our life and this wine embodies that philosophy, at a price that encourages more life enjoying moments!

This ambitious project has been three years in the making and answers calls from Nova Scotia restaurants, NSLC and other wine trade for a fresh early-release sparkling. Charmat method sparkling wine has a relatively brief time in tank to complete second fermentation and to keep wine fresh and fruity, compared to traditional methods of aging in bottle on its yeast lees for 2+ years. Fresh, creamy persistent natural bubbles and certified organic. 

“Charmat method” will be the declared production method on front labels and assures you that it is not produced by artificial carbonation like many wines on our market. It complements our diverse Traditional Method sparkling portfolio and offers a new sparkling that is fresh, vibrant, fruity, and dry.

Charmat tanks are very specialized and our tanks are presently being shipped from the heart of the Prosecco region in Veneto, Italy, where Prosecco charmat production is famous.The project was delayed with the pandemic in hard hit northern Italy but we are thankful for their extra efforts. This specialized sparkling style requires experience and expertise, and winemaker Bruce Ewert worked with the style in Ontario early in his career. 

Expected release of Joie de Vivre is June, in time for your barbecues, outdoor living and restaurant patio sipping.

Which Annapolis Valley Wine Tours Will You be Taking in 2021?

There are high hopes that the 2021 tourist season will be better than 2020. Will we have the famous Atlantic Bubble again or will it be mainly staycations within the province? We don’t know, but we are planning on optimism and have many compelling reasons for you to visit our Gaspereau winery this year.

Wine tours of wineries in Nova Scotia are very popular. We are a family run organic vineyard in Gaspereau Valley and our Wolfville winery offers wine tastings, vineyard tours and even encourages visitors to bring their own picnic for food and wine pairings. We are the birthplace of traditional method sparkling wine and offer one of the most diverse sparkling wine portfolios of all the Nova Scotia vineyards and the most organic wine. Visit our wineshop and bring a bottle home to relive your day in the heart of wine country.

Wine Tasting and Tour Options – Season starts late May (date to be announced)

All tastings and tours are by appointment, Visit our website to book your tasting now: /Visit-Us 

Sparkling Tasting – Four of our sparkling wines including wineshop exclusives, production methods and suggested food pairings

L’Acadie Tasting – an exploration of our diverse organic wines with three still wines and a choice of traditional method sparkling wine

A la Carte Tasting – you decide which wines that you would like to taste

Vineyard Tour – taste three focussed terroir wines while learning about our vineyard practices, organic ethos, terroir and sense of place.

Learn more about our tours and tastings on our website.

Industry partnerships are a valued component to our wine tour program and we are pleased to work with five tour companies in 2021. They also offer custom winery tours in the Wolfville area, so just ask them to include us and they will!

Uncork Nova Scotia

Grape Escapes

Where It’s At 

Seaweed Tours 

Tattingstone Inn 

Sipping Stars

 

Have you ever imagined that those playful bubbles in your glass of sparkling wine are like stars? Dom Perignon thought so too. He was the blind French monk that is credited with the discovery of fermenting wine in the bottle and was quoted as saying, "I'm sipping stars!".  And they have been the iconic symbol of Champagne ever since, including sparkling wines from other regions.

We associate stars with our sparklings based on these traditions. And our relationship with the style is strong: an experienced sparkling winemaker from British Columbia, the first release of traditional method sparkling in Nova Scotia and the province's first international awards. We were honoured when Beppi Crosariol wrote in the Globe and Mail,  “Bruce Ewert released Nova Scotia’s first Champagne-method sparkling wine back in 2008. The local industry owes much to his foresight”  Our present logo boasts one proud star, and our first logo back in 2008 had five stars. 

You'll recognize this logo on our road sign at the winery as a continuing homage to sparkling wine and our commitment to its craft in Nova Scotia.

 

 

How to Uncork and Pour Sparkling Wine

L'Acadie Vineyards - About Us video by Rove Productions

Tim Pawsey aka Hired Belly, Vancouver - L’Acadie Vineyards: Nova Scotia’s Sparkling Stalwart

L’Acadie Vineyards: Nova Scotia’s Sparkling Stalwart

I’m intrigued (and inspired) by winemakers who really do ‘push the envelope.’ And Bruce Ewert is one of those winemakers. Ever since Ewert left BC for Nova Scotia to make wine in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley I’ve been following his progress—and, in particular, L’Acadie Vineyards’ success in sparkling wine.

Born in Prince George, and a graduate of UBC, Ewert cut his viticultural teeth working across the country in various winemaking capacities for Andrés Wines. He started out in Port Moody, BC, before heading to Winona, Ontario and Truro, Nova Scotia. Along the way he worked vintages in Australia and California and returned to BC in 1995.

In those early days Ewert consulted to Sumac Ridge and Hawthorne Mountain (now SYL Ranch) and went on to explore sparkling wine at Summerhill. His wife, Pauline Scott, hails from Nova Scotia. Hence, he says, when it came to looking for affordable land on which to launch L’Acadie Vineyards (in 2004), then still emerging Annapolis Valley was an obvious choice.

Ewert was determined to follow the mantra “the right grape for the right site.” In this case he felt strongly that the right grape was l’Acadie Blanc. It’s a Canadian, cold-hardy hybrid of Seibel and Villard which is now widely planted in Nova Scotia. And he knew that the ancient seabed of the Gaspereau Valley—defined by schist and sandstone—was the perfect site.

Bruce Ewert

The winemaker was also drawn to L’Acadie Blanc’s higher acid, less fruit-driven profile. Noting at the time that nobody in Nova Scotia was making bubble he was convinced it would make “a wonderful sparkling wine.” Moreover, when it came to sparkling, Bruce was definitely bullish on Annapolis Valley rather than the Okanagan. There he reckoned (even over a decade ago) that consistently higher sugars were proving too challenging for sparkling.

As it turned out, he was likely witnessing the early signs of what we have now come to understand more urgently as climate change. On an already brief cycle of the vine, no one is immune to its impact, he notes. “Bud break now sometimes comes later than usual, and first frost possibly earlier. And even though winters may be getting milder, it’s not a certainty.”

Overall, though, his observation that Nova Scotia has considerably less heat units more than paid off in terms of consistently seeing more moderate sugar levels and good acid retention. And the L’Acadie grape has adapted, he says, “amazingly well, shortened its cycle through flowering and veraison, and still ripens for sparkling.”

In conclusion, it’s truly rewarding to see L’Acadie Vineyards making a name for itself—especially building the reputation of Canadian Traditional Method sparkling. It’s surely one of our most under-appreciated styles with plenty of potential—and sites not yet explored.

L’Acadie Vintage Cuvée 2017 (Annapolis Valley)

[L'Acadie Vineyards Vintage Cuvée 2017]

This blend of 92% estate-grown L’Acadie Blanc with 8% Annapolis Valley Seyval Blanc is certified organic and aged on the lees for before its first disgorging in June 2019. Here the L’Acadie and its suitability to sparkling truly shines through. Forward citrus, apple and toasty notes with anise hints, a stream of fine bubbles with persistent mousse, quite creamy and citrus on the palate with mineral undertones, excellent structure and zesty notes to close. Excellent now but also should evolve nicely in the bottle.  92 pts. $30.26 (winery). Also at some BC private stores.

L’Acadie Vintage Cuvée Rosé 2017 (Annapolis Valley & Cape Breton)

[L'Acadie Vineyards Vintage Cuvée Rosé 2017]

A blend of L’Acadie Blanc (36%) and Marechal Foch (55%), with 7% Leon Millot and 1% Luci Kuhlman from Cape Breton, plus 1% Seyval. Pale to medium salmon coloured with inviting, vibrant red berries and some sage and earthy hints. Fine bubbles and a gentle mousse lead to a crisp palate wrapped in appealing acidity, with rhubarb, strawberry and cherry notes, with some minerality in the background and that lively acidity—which just keeps on going, makes it very food flexible. Certified organic. 90 pts. $30.26 (winery). Also at some BC private stores.

Prestige Brut Estate 2014 (Annapolis Valley)

[L'Acadie Vineyards Prestige Brut Rosé 2014]

Made entirely with estate fruit from the initial 2005 plantings on schist, sandstone and sand, the soils really come through on this very Champagne-like sparkling wine, which lures with definite brioche, almond and toasty notes before a textured, mouth-filling palate of stonefruit and apple, above mineral undertones. Almost six years on lees delivers impressive but elegant heft and full-bodied character through a lengthy end. Certified organic. 91 pts.  $43.30 (winery) BCLS (2013) $55.99.

 

[The Ewert family]

The Ewert Family

Full article click here

 

 

92 points and Silver for 2014 Prestige Brut Estate at Decanter World Wine Awards

2020 Decanter World Wine Awards in London, England awarded new release 2014 Prestige Brut Estate silver AND 92 points!! By our count, it is the highest scoring sparkling wine across Canada (tied with Fitzpatrick Winery in British Columbia) And succeeds the sold out 2013 Prestige Brut Estate that also earned silver and 92 points at the 2018 competition.

Learn More /product/2014-Prestige-Brut-Estate?pageID=3C720078-D6DD-45E4-9F04-68F6B4CD5FAA&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=12&

Why are we Organic?