Your visit to Nova Scotia wine country wouldn’t be complete without tasting wines made with the L’Acadie Blanc grape. L’Acadie Blanc makes up the most acreage of the Nova Scotia wine region with 300 acres of 1500 acres planted. It is prominent in blends of most Tidal Bay wines and many wineries like our winery in Gaspereau Valley, L’Acadie Vineyards, offer single variety wine made from L’Acadie Blanc. And you can find it in many different wine styles to suit your taste including Nova Scotia sparkling wine.
L’Acadie Blanc was borne from the grape breeding program at Vineland Research Centre in Ontario and after showing promise was brought to Nova Scotia by visionary research scientists at Agriculture Canada. It’s a hybrid grape, combining European vinifera with North American grape hardiness. It all started in the 1980’s with commercial plantings by Grand Pre winery, though grapes were first planted in 1611 by French settlers near Bear River.
L’Acadie Vineyards planted its initial 8 acres with organic L’Acadie Blanc on rocky terroir in 2005 for traditional method sparkling wine, the first sparkling wine release in the region. The grape’s namesake, and our winery, refer to the rich historic French name for our region, Acadie.
Read more about Terroir and Organics
Nova Scotia’s cool climate is ideal for L’Acadie Blanc, thriving in the long ripening season and sleeping through maritime winters. L’Acadie Vineyards is in Gaspereau Valley with influences from Bay of Fundy for moderate sugar levels, crisp natural acidity and impressive ripe flavours. These are ideal conditions for sparkling wine and the reason we chose our vineyard location in Gaspereau and planted L’Acadie Blanc.
The best wines from L’Acadie Blanc in Nova Scotia are traditional method sparkling wines. L’Acadie Vineyards Prestige Brut Estate leads Nova Scotia sparkling wine with five consecutive awards from Decanter World Wine Awards, the most influential wine competition in the world. Its natural acidity and structure make it ideal for bottle aging on lees, developing toasty, creamy complexity.
Read more, Prestige Brut wins award at Decanter World Wine Awards
Other styles like L’Acadie Blanc Estate have wine tasting notes showing orange zest, mango and apple. And our rocky ancient seabed Nova Scotia terroir gives notes of mineral and slight saline. In general, L’Acadie Blanc produces wines with bright acidity, mineral notes, and fresh citrus flavours—hallmarks of Nova Scotia’s wine style. In fact, it’s often compared to cool-climate European whites, with a uniquely Atlantic Canadian character.
Hybrid grapes like L’Acadie Blanc are known for their health benefits with rich composition of bioactive compounds like antioxidants and polyphenols. And organic wines made from hybrid grapes have even more health benefits because natural vine stresses produce more healthy compounds without pesticide residues.
L’Acadie Vineyards has been making organic wine since establishing in 2005 and became the first winery in North America to be certified to the stringent Biocyclic Vegan International standard. We are leaders in organic vegan wine, vine to glass, honouring the health of people, our planet and all living things. Our organic vegan wine is available across Canada.
Read more, Why our wine is Biocyclic Vegan