W I N E RY P R O F I L E
New products, expanded
tasting room
Yet behind the scenes, it’s been a big year for
Benjamin Bridge. The second-largest win-ery
in Nova Scotia, it sells its wines across
Canada, and around the world, including
the United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium,
and Japan.
Their wines have been listed on
Michelin-starred restaurants, includ-ing
Gaya in Paris, France, and Restaurant
Gordon Ramsay in London, England.
This year, the Benjamin Bridge team
saw the debut of their Methode Classique
non-vintage brut (a blend of L’Acadie,
Seyval, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes)
onboard select WestJet flights.
The Wolfville-based winery also
released two of its wines in 250 millilitre
cans: Nova 7, an off-dry pale pink Muscat-based
sparkler, and a pétillant-naturel,
a light, fizzy French-style sparkling wine
that’s bottled while still fermenting and
enjoyed young. “The pet-nat is a new prod-uct
for many people. It’s cloudy and has
some sediment. It’s still sparkling, but
it isn’t clarified like people may expect,”
Mainguy said. “There were some concerns:
Are people ready for this? Do people know
what it is?”
They needn’t have worried. Both wines
were close to sold out across Canada within
weeks of their release. “The proposition of
a proper pet-nat, with no sulphites added,
and an indigenous fermentation inside
every can is pretty wild; no pun intend-ed,”
said head winemaker Jean-Benoit
Deslauriers. “Look for its return in 2020.”
The winery is also undergoing ren-ovations
this year. The winery building,
which used to house both the tasting room
and production facilities, has been reno-vated
to create more space for hosting
guests. Production, on the other hand, has
been completely moved up the hill to the
heritage barn. The barn, which was built
in 1845, has been carefully moved, placed
atop a new foundation and rebuilt using as
much of the original barnwood as structur-ally
possible.
Despite being busy with the renova-tions,
the Benjamin Bridge team still finds
time to remain active on various industry
committees under the Wines of Canada
banner, including the export committee for
the Canadian Vintners Association. “Being
part of that has helped our wineries overall
here because so many people don’t even
know that we make wines in Nova Scotia,”
said Mainguy. “We have a lot of friends in
the industry, and the relationships built
with other Canadian wineries is one of the
biggest and best spinoffs.”
Then there’s the winery’s charity work.
Every year, the Benjamin Bridge team
supports the Valley Regional Hospital
Foundation fundraiser, which raises money
for healthcare throughout Nova Scotia’s
Annapolis Valley.
To celebrate Nova 7’s 10-year anniver-sary
a few years ago, the winery hosted a big
event that included a 10-year vertical tast-ing
of Nova 7. “Every year, all the proceeds
go to the foundation,” Mainguy said. “It’s
really something we all believe in.”
Indeed, that dedication to family and
community is part of what drew Mainguy
to working for the winery. Gerry McConnell
and his late wife Dara Gordon founded
Benjamin Bridge in 1999 in Nova Scotia’s
Gaspereau Valley, near the Bay of Fundy.
Benjamin Bridge vineyard with winemaker
10 § POURED CANADA § www.poured.ca
/www.poured.ca
