W I N E RY P R O F I L E
“What’s special about what we do is
that we’re not trying to make wines
from somewhere else. We’re all about
making wines from Nova Scotia.”
– Gillian Mainguy
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THREE LOCATIONS AS OF APRIL 2019
West Coast
c/o Brewers Circle
Coquitlam, BC
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Central
Nordic Malz
St. Catherines, ON
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East Coast
Nordic Malz
Lower Sackville, NS
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A lawyer by trade, McConnell can often
be found in the vineyard, while his twin
daughters, Devon McConnell-Gordon and
Ashley McConnell-Gordon handle much of
the corporate side of the business. (Devon
is general manager, while Ashley handles
the financials and the growing export side
of the business.) Peter Gamble, the found-ing
executive director of Canada’s Vintners
Quality Alliance (VQA), has been with the
winery since 2000, working as the lead
wine consultant.
Yet, when it’s time for picking the
grapes and for bottling, all titles are set
aside, and you’ll literally find everybody
hard at work. “Everyone pitches in when
needed,” Mainguy said. “Especially during
harvest, we all just jump in and do what
needs to be done.”
Location, minimal intervention key
to winery’s success
While the family focus is certainly part of the
winery’s success, so is its location. Gaspereau,
say both Deslauriers and Mainguy, is part of
a unique ecosystem that offers much of what
makes all of Benjamin Bridge’s wines – spar-kling
and still – so successful.
“We’re a valley within a valley. We’re
only a few minutes from the Bay of Fundy,”
which is famous for its powerful and
extreme tides, Mainguy said. “The constant
wind movement and the Gaspereau River
help moderate things, keeping it warmer in
the winter and cooler in the summer.”
No stranger to weather challenges and
calculated risks during the winemaking
process, Deslauriers notes that his team
works hard to positively contribute to the
environment around them. That means no
added sulphites, no fermentation aids and
no other additives or ingredients. “We farm
organically and focus on biodiversity to
increase the vibrancy of our soils and con-nect
them to their surroundings,” he said.
“The winemaking is simply an exten-sion
of that, with practices – or lack thereof
– making for transparent wines that often
carve their own paths.”
What’s next?
Like every winery in the world, Benjamin
Bridge is looking ahead to what changes
will be necessary, for both climate change
and customer trends. Deslauriers sees
those trends as a challenge, not a threat. “To
make the wines of tomorrow, there is a lot
of inspiration to be found in social changes
and environmental challenges,” he said.
However, one thing that will never
change is the team’s focus on making wines
that taste of where they are created.
“What’s special about what we do
is that we’re not trying to make wines
from somewhere else,” Mainguy said.
“We’re all about making wines from
Nova Scotia.”
Photos courtesy of Benjamin Bridge
FALL 2019 § POURED CANADA § 11
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