Pesticides were invented in the 1950’s to supposedly help agriculture. However, grapes were grown for centuries before Roundup, synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The result is dead soil, polluted drinking water and damaged ecosystems. Costs are high for the health of people, planet and all living things. Organic vegan wine from Canada solves these problems
Stop using pesticides such as Roundup. It takes about 3 years for soil health to rebound back to a living soil teeming with organisms that help the vine grow, a partnership.
Organic wine practices can replace pesticides that get absorbed into the vine, and grapes and in your glass of wine. A renewal of the way grapes were grown 70 years ago.
Our Gaspereau valley winery has been organic from inception, over 20 years since planting the first organic vineyard in Nova Scotia, Canada. Costs are substantial compared to conventional wineries but our drive comes from the heart and we wouldn’t do it any other way. Here are some examples of the costs for organic vegan wine in Canada,
The organic approach is to manage a healthy living soil so that it provides for the vines. We brew plant-based grape pomace compost and horsetail teas, all from our property, to inoculate soil and protect leaves and clusters.
Pests are monitored and biodiversity is encouraged to attract natural predators with selected cover crops between rows, herbal plots of alyssum, and natural forest.
We have two levels of organic certification – producer (vineyard) and processor (winemaking). Both have rigorous inspections and audits including mass balance and traceability. The Canada Organic logo on every one of our bottles is the end result and shows our customers transparency and integrity.
Organic certification is required to be able to be certified to the Biocyclic Vegan International standard, an added level of sustainability that has costs such as sourcing organic cane sugar for sparkling tirage liqueur that has not been filtered through bone char. Animal manures are not used in the vineyard, so there are added costs to prepare compost and horsetail teas. The vegan logo is on our bottles to show transparency of our Nova Scotia vegan wine so you don’t have to wonder.
Learn more about our practices,
Why our wine is Biocyclic Vegan
There are many pesticides available for conventional wineries that protect vines from within (systemic) and there are residues in wine and groundwater. Only naturally occurring contact inputs are allowable for organic and they can be costly.
