Wine & Vine Blog, what's in my glass tonight?

Hi!

I started Wine & Vine after realizing that what I love most is talking to strangers about wine. So in the off-season, I figured: why not keep talking to strangers about wine—just in a different way?

Welcome to my blog: a stream of consciousness, typed with a glass of Nova Scotian wine in hand, highlighting the things I love (and occasionally hate) about wine.

So… what’s in my glass tonight?

I’m drinking the 2024 L’Acadie Vineyards L’Acadie Blanc. It’s a stainless-steel ferment: bright, fresh, and full of apple, pear, and citrus.

Let’s parse that out together.

• 2024 the vintage, the year the grapes were grown and harvested.

• L’Acadie Vineyards an organic and vegan winery in the Gaspereau Valley, part of the greater Annapolis Valley.

• L'Acadie Blanc  the workhorse of Nova Scotia wine. A white grape developed in Ontario and brought to Nova Scotia in the 1980s, where, thanks to our cooler climate, it absolutely thrives.

• Stainless steel ferment this is where most of the world's wine is made. Stainless is easy to clean and keeps wine consistent, crisp, and clean.

• “Bright, fresh, apple, pear, citrus” wine-nerd shorthand. Honestly? It doesn’t matter unless it matters to you. These notes can help you figure out what you like and how to find more wines you’ll enjoy, but they’re not required for enjoying wine, no matter what that guy at the bar explaining New Zealand Sauv Blanc wants to believe.

  
  

Why I love L’Acadie Vineyards

If you’ve been on a tour with me or just poked around my Instagram, you already know I adore this place.

Part of that is personal. Bruce, the winemaker, was my instructor when I studied at NSCC in Kentville in the Cool Climate Winemaking & Viticulture program. So yes, I’m a little biased.

In 2020, I worked harvest at L’Acadie. I picked, pressed, and crushed grapes (though I still haven’t tasted the Geisenheim I hand-destemmed, so fingers crossed it was good). I fermented, ran lab analyses, and cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned more.

There’s a saying in winemaking: it’s 80% cleaning. I can confirm.

I also picked rocks, dug out invasive rosebushes, and hauled out poplar roots. That was… an experience. Thanks, Bruce.

Winemaking is not glamorous. The stuff you see on social media, TV, and movies accounts for maybe 1% of the real work. The rest is dirt, stainless steel, spreadsheets, and hoses.

Want to learn more? Visit L’Acadie and hear it straight from the source.

My go-to bottle from them is La Vie en Rose. Absolutely delicious.

What should I write about next time?

Tell me what you want to hear... More Nova Scotia wine? Winemaking school stories? Behind-the-scenes from tours? Grape varieties? Rants? Recommendations?

I’m here for all of it.

🥂Cheers,

Stephanie

Dreaming of my rock picking days at L'Acadie