Organic winery focused on producing world-class sparkling wines

Nova Scotia’s newest winery, L’Acadie Vineyards, opened May 9. Also the province’s first organic winery, it is focused on producing world-class traditional method sparkling wines.

“The climate in Nova Scotia is ideal for traditional method sparkling wines,” says L’Acadie Vineyards owner and winemaker Bruce Ewert. “Ocean-influenced, moderate temperatures with extended warm falls allow grapes to mature to ideal ripeness with sugars and acidity that can produce world-class sparkling wines similar to Champagne, France.”

Ewert, who has won numerous accolades for his wines, brings plenty of winemaking

experience from some of the biggest names in British Columbia’s wine industry, with a

concentration on sparkling wines. His international experience in other sparkling wine-producing areas such as Sonoma, California and Australia’s sparkling centre, Padthaway, adds to his wine resume.

Traditional method sparkling wines, a new concept for Nova Scotia winemakers, require aging for multiple years on yeast lees and fermenting in the bottle in order to produce fine bubbles. Specialized equipment such as riddling racks is used to remove the yeast sediment from the bottles. These can be viewed from the wine shop.

Aside from sparkling wines, L’Acadie Vineyards offers other styles of wine, most notably the 2007 L’Acadie Star, a still wine recently awarded a double gold medal and best of category at the 2008 All-Canadian Wine Championships.

L’Acadie Vineyards is located on 310 Slayter Road, Gaspereau, Nova Scotia. The winery is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also offered are tourist accommodations in vineyard-side cottages.

L’Acadie Vineyards is a certified organic vineyard and winery built with environmentally-friendly geothermal heating and cooling. There is an in-ground barrel and sparkling tirage cellar, infrared reflecting roof, thick ICF (insulated concrete forms) walls and building orientation to take advantage of shading and natural light.

A grand opening celebration will take place July 20. For more information, call (902) 542-8463, or visit www.lacadievineyards.ca.

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