L'Acadie Vineyards, Traditional Sparkling Wine
European Wine Influence, Traditional Method Champagne, Agritourism
Aug 17, 2009
S101 : L'Acadie Vineyards is well regarded for what their Traditional Method Sparkling Wines. Can you illuminate that concept for us?
L'Acadie Vineyards : Traditional method sparkling wine is fermented in the bottle, aged in the bottle for up to three years. The aging in the bottle gives it a bready character that is celebrated in excellent French champagnes.
We make it the same way the French do, in fact we'd had the daughter of a medium-sized champagne house visit us as she was at Pier 21 promoting her family wine. She'd heard we were using the traditional method in order to craft our sparkling wine and paid us a visit. She saw our riddling racks and exclaimed that she hadn't seen those since she was a child!
This is the method that smaller champagne and wine houses in France use to ferment their wines.
S101 : So how does the process actually progress? What steps do you take in fermenting and crafting traditional method sparkling wines?
L'Acadie Vineyards : First of all grapes are gently pressed whole cluster for delicate juice extraction, and yields are low. We cool ferment in stainless steel tanks and then bottle and cap the wines, placing them in a cage – 500 bottles to a cage.
The biggest thing with aging is to promote a constant temperature without fluctuation, so have of this storage is underground to help assist with this. After aging, roughly three years or simply a year for a Rosé perhaps, we riddle it.
What riddling is, basically, is the process of moving the sediment down and forward to the neck of the bottle. We place them in these large wooden riddling racks and ensure their rotation on a regular basis to ensure that the sediment has all fallen to the neck. Afterwards, the wine is disgorged via a neck-freezing apparatus. The wine containing all the sediment is frozen, the cap is removed very briefly to allow the natural pressure to disgorge the frozen wine containing the sediment, pushing it out of the bottle. The bottle is corked with a champagne cork, and moved toward the finished product.
Traditional method really means that we are doing in the method of champagne crafters in France. The difference between a traditional sparkling wine and some of the other wines labelled as sparkling wines on the market is that a great deal of the other brands are artificially carbonated, similar to pop. We're proud to offer the only traditional method sparkling wines available in Nova Scotia.
S101 : You also have a beautiful selection of red wine.
L'Acadie Vineyards : Yes, for reds, were weren't quite sure what style we wanted to do, so we set up a three year research project with Agriculture Canada, the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, and the Research Council of Canada to develop a value-added wine by the process of grape drying, a European technique most commonly associated with Italian wine.
We're applying those techniques to our unique grape varieties – though the technique is old we use a completely modern process for grape drying here. We have drying chambers, humidity monitors, we also monitor surface air speeds. It's a science, really.
What we didn't expect from this project was a flavour enhancement from this process. What happens during the process of grape drying is that the fruit continues to respire as it's drying and it assimilates a more dried fruit character, much like fig.
So we have two wines owing their heritage to this process – 2006 Alchemy which is comprised of 100% dried grapes, it's a big red at 15.5% alcohol, all from the natural sugars of the grapes.
Eclipse is another wine that is based on the Italian Ripasso drying method, and it's been very popular and little less robust with regard to alcohol content, though still retaining the character and flavour infusion of the dried grape. Both have won gold medals, both locally and nationally.
S101 : Can customers purchase your wines at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) if they are unable to see you in person here at L'Acadie Vineyards?
L'Acadie Vineyards : Our wineshop is open every day from 11 to 5 during the months from May through to October, and we always love to receive our guests in person and on the grounds.
We do have a great relationship with NSLC though, and our product is in twenty stores currently, from Yarmouth to Sydney.
S101 : With regard to agritourism and growth of wine tourism in Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley, do you see an increase in activity both for tourists and for vintners and winemakers?
L'Acadie Vineyards : We've seen about a fifty percent increase in our own traffic over our initial opening year, so people are locating us, our wines are selling very well, and our guests are very pleased with our product here at L'Acadie Vineyards. There is a trend, a higher awareness out there with regards to the importance of agritourism and wine tourism.
With regards to other vintners moving in to the area, there's a website called InvestInNovaScotia.ca, it's put on by the economic group for this area, King's County Economic Development, and I think, Nova Scotia Economic Development, to entice people to grow grapes from within the province and start new wineries.
The Winery Association, of which we're members, has a growth plan of 20 wineries to be completed between 2015 and 2020, which I am confident will be reached. We moved here ourselves to participate in a growing industry, so there will be others.
The Interview Continues...
Mr. Ewert discusses the terroir of the Gaspereau Valley and his experience at Andres Wines and abroad, and continues with a brief mention of the vineyard's support of Ryan's Well, an international charity, as well as his personal motivations as a winemaker.
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