When thinking about the wines produced in Nova Scotia, the styles that likely come to mind are sparkling, still whites, or even rosé. However, Nova Scotia red wines are not to be overlooked with many farm wineries crafting quality examples expressive of our coastal terroir from both hybrid (e.g. Baco Noir) and cool-climate vinifera (e.g. Pinot Noir) grape varieties. Rather than trying to emulate a certain style, winemakers respect the growing environment and create wines based on the characteristics that the land gives them. The result is red wines with great intensity, freshness and purity of fruit, which continue to be enjoyed by wine consumers near and far.
Interested in learning more? Scroll down to see what experts are saying about Nova Scotia red wines along with a list of received accolades and recognitions!
Canadian Pinot Noir, A Seminar
By: Jamie Goode for Wine Anorak
Pinot Noir has found a home in Canada’s wine regions. Last July, Treve Ring and I led a seminar on Canadian Pinot Noir to a mixed group of trade and consumers at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon. We were joined by three Canadian winemakers/proprietors, each representing their own winemaking province and showing one of their selected wines. In addition, each brought along another wine from one of their local wineries, to show diversity.
One surprise has been how well Pinot Noir has taken off in Nova Scotia. This small easterly region used to be mainly about cold-hardy, early ripening hybrids, but in recent years a band of producers have done well with vinifera. In 2017, there were 9 acres of Pinot Noir planted, mostly in Annapolis and Gaspereau Valleys. With us on the panel at the IPNC was winemaker Josh Horton, of Lightfoot and Wolfville. They farm biodynamically, and make impressive sparkling and still wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. ‘Fifteen years ago, everyone told us that it was too cold, and you can’t plant vinifera,’ says Horton, who grew up in the region. ‘We didn’t listen, and we’ve helped change the way a bit.’ They have to crop low, at 1.5-2 tons/acre, in order to ripen Pinot Noir here. ‘The viticulture has to be just ripe,’ he says. Harvest is at the end of October, and on the day of the presentation, July 24, 2020, they are just finishing flowering. In contrast, in Ontario’s wine regions, the clusters of grapes are just going through bunch closure at that time. Josh says that he hand sorts, only uses the best clusters, and uses wild yeasts. Whole cluster depends on the vintage: for example, in 2016, a warm year, they did 20%.
Lightfoot & Wolfville Ancienne Pinot Noir 2016 Nova Scotia, Canada
This was a warm vintage. Soils are glacial till and sandy loam with some shale. Aromatic, with lovely fine red cherries on the nose and some sappiness. Nice crunch on the palate with a bit of grip and some undergrowth notes. Supple and sweetly fruited, this is really elegant. 93/100 (JG)
Blomidon Pinot Noir 2017 Nova Scotia, Canada
This spends 10 days on skins and is aged in older oak. Lovely concentration here: has raspberry and cherry fruit with lovely sweetness and good structure and acidity. Nice concentration and freshness with purity and some grip. 93/100 (JG)
Pinot Noir in Canada: A Patchwork of Styles and Successes
By: Rod Phillips for the World of Fine Wine Magazine
Pinot Noir is one of the few grape varieties that is grown in all of Canada’s wine regions, with their vastly diverse climatic conditions. It is planted in British Columbia’s warm, dry southern Okanagan Valley and in the province’s cooler, wetter, coastal areas; in cool-climate Ontario, including a somewhat warmer island sub-appellation lying on the same latitude as northern California; in cold-climate Quebec, where vines must be buried in winter; and in the cool, maritime conditions of Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast.
In Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with about 20 wine producers, Pinot Noir plays a significant role in the production of sparkling wine, which has become a regional specialty. Several wineries also make varietal Pinot Noirs, but they are still marginal, and many of these wines are made only in good vintages.
Nova Scotia Winemakers Are Seeing Red
By: Moira Peters for The Coast
Awards
Avondale Sky Winery
2023 All Canadian Wine Championships Gold – 2021 Ferry Road
Blomidon Estate Winery
2019 Wine Align National Award – 2016 Reserve Baco Noir
Domaine de Grand Pré Winery
2022 All Canadian Wine Championships Gold – 2019 Castel
Luckett Vineyards
2017 Lieutenant Governor Award for Excellence in Nova Scotia Wine – Old Bill (formerly Black Cab)
Planters Ridge Winery
2023 All Canadian Wine Championships Silver – 2020 Quintessence Red
Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards
Atlantic Canada Wine Awards 2019 – Red Wine of the Year & Best of Class Single Varietal, Red Vinifera – Ancienne Pinot Noir (2016)
Atlantic Canada Wine Awards 2017 – Best of Class Red Wine & Best of Class Single Varietal, Red Vinifera – Ancienne Pinot Noir (2015)
Atlantic Canada Wine Awards 2018 – Best of Class Red Wine & Best of Class Red Single Varietal, Vinifera – Terroir Series Kékfrankos (2017)
Praise for Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyard’s Ancienne Pinot Noir
“Aromatic, with lovely fine red cherries on the nose and some sappiness. Nice crunch on the palate with a bit of grip and some undergrowth notes. Supple and sweetly fruited, this is really elegant.” Score: 93 Jamie Goode on the 2016 Ancienne Pinot Noir for wineanorak.com | 18/03/2020
“…I was really taken aback by the wine’s quality: a truly knockout Pinot Noir, it’s very Chambolle-like and easily one of the best new World Pinot Noirs I have tried in some time…” Score: 92 Ian D’Agata on the 2013 Ancienne Pinot Noir for vinous.com | October 2016
“..This is the richest Ancienne and Nova Scotian pinot noir to date, with firm grip, structure and outright intensity. Welcome to the pinnacle of the first L&W pinot wave, the culmination of the first epoch, after which nothing will be the same and so much learning will have been achieved. Drink 2019-2026.” Score: 93 Michael Godel on the 2016 Ancienne Pinot Noir for winealign.com | 12/12/2018
“..Ancienne upholds tradition, is worked by hand and is loyal to varietal and place. It may still confound the uninitiated but make no mistake. Modernity, meeting of great minds and wondrous probability are now in play. It speaks to honesty, first from fruit and then into what cool-climate pinot noir should smell like, both acting in promise of guarantee. Like roses, fennel and pomegranate, in a combination that speaks to the valley’s ability to deliver long-ripened phenolics and a very specific type of pectin/glycerin texture. Acids are a delight and lift the fruit into a lovely veil of volatility. So much life lays ahead.” Score: 91 Michael Godel on the 2015 Ancienne Pinot Noir for winealign.com | 14/08/2018
“…Ancienne is old-school, traditional, hand-made, artisanal. It is a wine that others will not yet know what to do with but the launching point is precise, progressive, poignant and teeming with wonder meets possibility. The fruit purity and transparency speaks to the honesty delivered. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted June 2017. Score: 90 Michael Godel on the 2014 Ancienne Pinot Noir for winealign.com | 24/06/2017
“If de novo for Pinot Noir is to be found in Nova Scotia then count me in because the inaugural release from Lightfoot & Wolfville is the trailblazer for and from the extrinsic frontier. Tasting the painstakingly measured yet barely handled 2013 for the first time (from the bottle) is like falling into a glass of Nova Scotia cherries. Somehow there is this simultaneous and virtual voyage abroad to imagine a comparison with Nuits-Saint-Georges, in its earth crusted, sanguine, welled up tension that begs questions and belies answers. A year yonder the taste from barrel and what can be said? Pinot Noir adjudicated, into a cortex of recognizable consciousness and thus into the natural Nova Scotia mystic. Ignore and forgive the dope of first returns, for no one could have imagined such ripeness and immediate gratification. Future releases will dial back in the name of structure. That said, in 2013 there is a red citrus, ferric debate that will send this to an exordium seven years down the road. Impossible inaugural release. Approximately 50 cases made. Drink 2015-2022.” Score: 92 Michael Godel on the 2013 Ancienne Pinot Noir for winealign.com | 07/2015
Praise for Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyard’s Terroir Series Kékfrankos
“As much as the inaugural kékfrankos from Lightfoot & Wolfville showed promise, the follow-up 2017 delivers. The colour is an attractive vibrant violet-purple-red, and I love the purity of fruit on the nose, fully in the classic spectrum for the variety, which is to say all cherries, red and black, riper than the 2016, with a lovely touch of violet perfume, also typical, alongside a whiff of freshly cracked pink peppercorn. The palate remains fleet and sleek, framed by bright acids, firm but not shrill, with ultra-fine grained tannins. The palate is bursting with juicy-fresh cherry flavour, and like the 2016, wood is very much an observer in the flavour parade. A really lovely cool climate expression all in all, with impressive length for such feather-light structure. A fine addition to the Nova Scotia offering – they’ve pretty much nailed it – best over the near term – 2-3 years at most I’d speculate (with no track record to go by). Tasted July 2018.” Score: 90, John Szabo, MS on the 2017 Terroir Series Kékfrankos for winealign.com | 30/07/2018
“Such an interesting wine that is so well done. There is a lovely wild, bitter berry fruit presence – not quite blueberry, not cassis or pomegranate but reminiscent of all. Some berry found deep in a Canadian forest. It is offset by the gentlest wisp of oak smoke, vanillin and spice that softens the nervous palate but doesn’t reduce the vitality. It’s quite deeply coloured and luminous, and fairly fragrant. It is medium weight, brisk, juicy and moderately tannic with lovely fruit concentration and length. Canada needs more expertly made examples of “new” varieties that work well. The length is excellent. Tasted March 2019.” Score: 91 Michael Lawrason on the 2017 Terroir Series Kékfrankos for winealign.com | 09/03/2019