Muir Murray Estate Winery, Nova Scotia Wines

Interview Detailing Wine Tourism, Wine Tastings, Award Winning Wines

Aug 17, 2009

Suite101.com recently had the opportunity to speak with several Annapolis Valley vintners. Dr. Jonathan Murray, owner of Muir Murray Estate Winery, speaks on wine.

S101 : Thank you for joining us today Dr. Murray. Could you tell me what sparked your interest in opening a vineyard?

Muir Murray Estate Winery : We came here from Bermuda, 2003, to retire. At the age of 51, and I found out that I was too young, too much energy. But I'd always dreamed about working with grapes, growing grapes, making wine. Since this was such a burgeoning industry, I thought, well, hey, let's get into this!

So I bought a property in the Gaspereau Valley, about 50 acres. I'd never worked on a farm before, never sat on a tractor before. The property needed a bunch of TLC. It wasn't really enough for me or my plan; so we bought our second property, on Dyke Road in Lower Wolfville.

The property was complete with a five-bedroom farmhouse, a very large barn, and a woodworking warehouse. So we started working on that as well, and the first attempts were very difficult.

There was general preparation of the land; that took about a year – getting rid of the old orchard. And then we began planting. After a brief period of middling success, a gentleman by the name of Wayne MacDonald had approached me and said he could help me – he had planted four vineyards and opened a winery before.

So he's taken our position of manager and now everything is ship-shape! The warehouse is now the winery, and that took quit a bit of conversion.

The five bed-room farmhouse is going to be remodeled into an institute for an education in wine and viticulture. When I came here, I was a voracious reader and student of what it took to make great wine, grape varieties – a variety of opinions, really, that could be confusing for those attempting to learn more about grapes and wine – and so we'll be offering seminars and the like at this educational institute.

Muir Murray Estate Winery : Thank you. Another item of interest is that we have a property in White Rock, 150 acres right there, and we're forming a company to own the vines to be planted on that area – the company will sell those grapes to Muir Murray – we'll make the wine, and sell the wine back to our shareholders at a substantial discount.

They'll be able to sit at a dinner party in Halifax and present a wine made from their own vineyard, and reap the profit of their share as well.

S101 : That makes two excellent business proposals. A good incentive for local investors for certain. What tours do you offer at Muir Murray, and do you offer any other amenities?

Muir Murray Estate Winery : We at present offer tours for free, three times daily. 10, 2, 4. Tastings are also free for the remainder of this year, and we have several gorgeous varieties to choose from at our wine bar.

S101 : Describe your clients; what types of people are interested in Muir Murray's wines?

Muir Murray Estate Winery : Well, that's an interesting question. We have a broad range of customers starting from young couples in their twenties right up to interested seniors at eighty and up. It's very difficult to pin down.

We have people from all over the world visit us, from Russia, Israel, United States, Britain, Germany, France – all over, and of course the local clients as well!

S101 : While relatively new, has Muir Murray Estates entered any tasting competitions, and if so, how have the results been?

Muir Murray Estate Winery : There was recently the Atlantic Canadian Wine Competition; we got a gold medal for Baco Noir, two bronzes – one for our Rosé and one for our Maréchal Foch. Which we're very pleased about, because we've literally had the doors open for six weeks.

Muir Murray Estate Winery : Well, L'Acadie Blanc, which we call Atlantic Tide, commemorating the year of deporation of the Acadiens as encouraged by Grand Pre National Park, is very popular. I prefer that white, as well, personally.

We have another white, Seyval Blanc, which is also very popular and trends acidic. It depends on the weather, what the wine be paired with, the mood of the consumer – all these things influence popularity.

As for reds, I personally love the Baco Noir, the Leon Millot is very robust and full-bodied, great with red meat, and the Marechal Foch just has a lot of flavour. But the rosé is really the secret for a successful picnic!

The Interview Continues

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