So ... you want to buy a winery?

This is the story of risk, passion and family. A story about rural life and community. A story of adapting to survive and learning to thrive. If you love wine, business and the thrill of new ventures. Then sit back and enjoy Avondale Sky Winery.

https://avondalesky.com/

What is Avondale Sky Winery?

If you love wine, business and the thrill of new ventures. Then Avondale Sky Winery is the show for you.

In 2019, the Coutinho family took a leap of faith. They bought a winery with no previous experience in the winemaking industry. Nestled in rural Nova Scotia, this podcast captures the ups and downs of their first 2 years running Avondale Sky Winery.

This is the story of risk, passion and family. A story about rural life and community. A story of adapting to survive and learning to thrive.
To learn more about the winery or to buy some of the wine featured visit: https://avondalesky.com/

Rhys Waters: Welcome to Avondale
sky winery. This is a story of

risk, passion and family. A
story about rural life and

community. A story about
adapting to survive and learning

to thrive. If you love wine
business and the thrill of new

ventures then sit back and enjoy
Avondale sky winery. In this

episode, we'll learn about where
it all began, from the dream of

saving the community icon to the
Karatedo family taking the

reins.

Our story begins one sunny June
afternoon in 2019 when Louis

casino was relaxing at home with
his wife, Avila

Unknown: was recently retired,
and I got a call from Carl. Carl

said dad, he said his mom there
and yeah, I'm good. Can you put

us on speakerphone? So I did
want to discuss a business

venture. So what is it? I can't
tell you?

Yeah, imagine asking your
parents to sign a nondisclosure

agreement. Friend of mine is a
business broker. So I'm on his

mailing list, as you do is
friends do. They're all in each

other's mailing lists. And I
always see everything that he

has for sale, whether it's fish
and chip trucks or laundromats

or whatever. And one thing he
said winery and that caught my

attention. I thought that's
interesting.

Long story short, I was I asked
him what it was and he said it

was a winery and I couldn't
believe and as crazy. None of us

know anything about winemaking.
Yeah, but that this is what

you've always wanted. No, I
wanted a hobby farm. No, not the

winery. Six chickens and
probably, you know, a little

garden or something. So keeps me
active and get me up in the

morning.

They were probably the toughest
sales pitch I probably have read

in my life to pitch to my
brother, yeah okay, you're gonna

move from Halifax, to Newport
landing. Would that work for

you? You know? And to my wife,
of course who everything's a

sales pitch to your wife, right?

Yeah, so we were laying in bed
one night, it's like 10 o'clock

at night. I'm ready to go to
bed. He has his laptop. He's

going through emails. And he
says, Jame there's a winery for

sale. Like, wouldn't that be
amazing? And I was kind of like,

okay, sure. Yeah. And he was
like, no, but like, if we bought

it, and I was like, You're
crazy. I'm going to sleep. So I

literally rolled over and when
sleep

did I didn't have all the
answers of how it was going to

work. I had no vision of I think
good work. Least I know one

thing for sure. It'll keep me
and my family here in Nova

Scotia for a number of years.
And you know, with other careers

you don't know where it might
take you

Rhys Waters: And Carl wasn't the
only family member eager for a

joint venture. His younger
brother Shawn was already

flexing his entrepreneurial
muscles.

Shawn: I think I've always
wanted to be an entrepreneur and

do entrepreneurship. And I had
started something before a

little ice company. This is just
a much bigger venture. But I

really didn't know much about
why I thought Pinot Grigio was a

red wine. I felt like I it was
mostly the business side of

things.

Rhys Waters: For a moment, the
law. It was an exciting

opportunity,

Unknown: working with the family
on a venture that is a growing

industry in Nova Scotia. We all
like wine, beer, and an

opportunity to grow even more.

Rhys Waters: But it was risky.
And Carl still had some

convincing to do

Unknown: just thought he was
just kind of throwing it out

there, whatever. So the next
morning, I wake up, I pick up my

phone, and there is a string of
100 messages back and forth. He

had created this chat with his
parents and his brother,

introducing this idea of buying
winery and Dinah was like, Oh,

he was actually kind of serious
about this.

We went through the due
diligence period, and the

condition I took it on was I've
been behind the desk for 45

years of my life. 30 years with
the Halifax Regional

Municipality and 15 years with
the town of Windsor as the chief

administrative officer. I didn't
want to be behind the desk and

CRO promised that he looks after
the business end of things. All

I wanted to do was manage the
back end you know, the vineyard

and being outside but that's how
we got into this, this venture.

Rhys Waters: And while right now
is booting time for the wine

industry in Nova Scotia Avondale
sky is one of the oldest

vineyards in the province. So to
tell you the rest of the story,

we need to go back in time to

Unknown: The village of Walton
hasn't seen this kind of

excitement in God only knows how
long. What do you guys think of

all of this? Oh, it's a miracle
to me.

I think it's short, I'm sure a
miracle.

Rhys Waters: The wineries
original founders Stewart and

Lorraine believed strongly in
sustainability. Moving from the

city they wanted to find and
repurpose old buildings rather

than build new. That's how an
old barn from the st. Quad

riverbanks first came deliver
the winery for the miracle. The

witnesses he heard from the old
CBC report were talking about

was their most ambitious
repurposing project yet. One day

they stumbled across an old
building in nearby Walton, and

they were inspired. Mama Vila
has taken on the role of Chief

Historian.

Unknown: The previous owners
were looking for a place to

display their wine. So this was
an old Anglican church, St.

Matthew's Anglican church built
in 1837. It was deconsecrated in

2008 2009. And at that point in
time, it was going to be

destroyed. They saw this church
fell in love with it, bought it

for all of the dollar 67 Because
in those days in 1837, the

community built the church. So
there was hardly any money that

the Archdiocese had to pay for
it. They had to move it from

where they were located. They
couldn't move it by road because

of the high ceiling and low
power lines. They didn't want to

move it in pieces and put it
together. So they floated down

the river all in one piece. 40
tons of it. And

with cameras and makeshift
chairs, the moving of this old

church was a sight not to be
missed.

I ever say there's many curves
are you nervous.

They put it on a flatbed flatbed
moved on to a barge and floated

down it took 24 hours.

Have you ever transported a
church down the river never

never. And the whole town is
shown

because Avon River and the minus
basin is part of the Bay of

Fundy which has the highest
tides in the world. They had to

time it so that it would leave
at the best high tides possible.

Even with that it stopped
enhance boat to allow another

second set of high tides to come
and then brought it over here.

So with the tide and weather on
their side, they pull away to

applause no less. Every one
happy that their little church

that stood in their village
since 1844 will be converted

after its water journey to a
place that makes wine. And this

is one memory they'll treasure

all in one piece, no damage done
to the beautiful stained glass

windows, or the structure or the
flooring or anything like that.

Rhys Waters: Today, the stunning
church sits pride of place in

the community of Newport Landon,
in his new lease of life, it's

the focal point and symbol of
the winery.

Unknown: Come on in. You can see
it's still got a lot of history.

And we've tried to modernize it
a little bit with some of the

merchandise and obviously the
wine and different displays. But

it's got a lot of character. We
have a lot of people that come

here that you know their parents
were married in this church or

they were baptized in this
church. And they happen to like

wine too. So it works out well
for us and they like to come in

and see it. So this is it's it's
got a nice blend of I guess the

past and the future.

People have come in here from
other parts of the country. And

I've heard them say wow, wow. Oh
my oh my and I think to myself,

what's the OH MY and they say
this is just absolutely

gorgeous.

Rhys Waters: As a visitor to
Avon, they'll scape. The

original and ornate stained
glass windows are an

unforgettable feature.

Unknown: I have been to Florence
where I've seen some stained

glass windows at the Basilica,
across from the dome. And some

of them look as beautiful as
that. In the summer when the sun

beams are coming through. You
can actually see on the

countertop on the counter, the
sun beams shining, red, yellow

and greet.

We'll head over this way and we
have a mural here that was spray

painted by again a local artist
local meaning from Halifax A

friend of mine that I grew up
with, and he, he does a nice

depiction of the story of how
this church came. It's just

sometimes, you know, it helps a
picture says 1000 words. So it

allows us to kind of tell it.
And we also have an actual

picture of it here, not far to
kind of show people the actual

but and then just through here,
we've got a window that kind of

looks down into what I would
call the actual winery where the

where, where the money is, has
to be made. Because if you don't

have the wine to sell, you don't
really have much of a business.

So, so yeah, these these are
just some of the tanks, there's

more tanks on the left hand
side. But this is just a nice

way when we're giving a tour. to
customers that come here, we

don't always have the ability to
take them right down into the

bowels of the winery. So this is
a way that they can just see it,

they can get a bit of the
history of the church here. They

can see down below and see the
number of different tanks we

have. You can see my dad down
there walking through you can

see Maria given us away.

Rhys Waters: For Louis and Vela
life has changed a lot since he

first arrived in Canada.

Unknown: By got here in 1972, I
came as a refugee from Uganda.

This was EDM ins, idiom in his
reign of terror. So we arrived

in Montreal in October, it will
be 50 years, this coming

October. It was a military
barracks. And we actually had a

choice of where we should be
going to you know which province

would best be best suited for
our family. So after doing some

preliminary looks here, and then
we looked at where everybody was

standing, everybody wanted to go
to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver.

And so those provinces they had,
they had booths set up from

British Columbia, all the way to
the Atlantic provinces. And we

saw nobody was going to the
Atlantic provinces. So I said to

my mom, I said, that's where
we're going, we're going over

there.

Rhys Waters: And for Avila, the
spirit of adventure has always

been her driving force.

Unknown: I finished high school
at 14, and went on to university

four year degree, I knew that
there was something my world was

too small over there, and I
wanted to expand. Anyway, when I

did come to Canada, I came with
my mom and younger brother. And

I came with $3 in my pocket. And
I always had the savings goal, I

have no idea why. So I went off
to Toronto, I was still a

teenager went up to Toronto, on
my own got a job with a

financial institution, which is
where I wanted to be, and

absolutely loved that field.

I started working in the very
first week as, as a grocery

store as a 19 year old at all my
brothers who were younger than

me and they had to go to high
school. So all of a sudden, it

was like, I had to do something
to to get my family, you know,

my mother didn't have too many
skills. So she had to take a job

as a dishwasher. So between
herself and myself, you know, we

had to find a way to make things
work. We were able to, you know,

to sort of live there, put my
brothers through high school and

save some to put myself through
university a few years later.

Rhys Waters: It's very easy to
see why Carl and Shawn are

deeply inspired by their parents

Shawn: To know what they've gone
through the ups and downs in to

start from the bottom down here
and then move their way up to

where where we as a family are
able to afford a winery and then

build that legacy for the
Latinos.

Unknown: From the background
that my parents brought. Hard

work was obviously instilled in
you know, my brother and I, you

know, we grew up watching, you
know, our parents work hard. And

you just, I guess you're that's
how you brought up. That's the

nurture part of your life. And I
know if you ask them, they'll

probably tell you, they never
thought they'd be a business

owner. And I could probably
understand that. But they've

always worked as hard to be
business owners.

Rhys Waters: Avondale Sky has
always been more than just a

business, it had a staff of
local people employed by the old

owners. So when the Cortino
family took over, they knew

there will be a transition.
Well,

Unknown: it's interesting,
because, you know, I know it

concerned, some of our staff
when they saw five of us coming

in as Co-owners, and it was
like, Okay, this is going to be

a problem. You know, somebody's
going to be they're going to be

trampling over each other. We're
going to get five different

people telling us to do five
different things.

Rhys Waters: In a small
community. Businesses like this

provide more than just a job,
team man was like vineyard crew.

Jamie have a personal history
that goes way back.

Unknown: Yeah, well, my family
roots can probably be traced

right back to the shipbuilding
days back here in this

particular area. This vineyard
was here when I was a kid. But I

grew up through here playing in
the woods and everything all

through here. If you look at
some of the very old maps and

everything like the the land
that the vineyard is now sitting

on used to hold quite a few
families, there's some old roads

that go back through the woods
and then was 11 or 12,

homesteads back through the
woods directly behind the

vineyard. And through the
vineyard, there were three or

four other ones. Some of the
roads that we use to go from

section to section actually used
to be old physical roads that

the shipbuilding, people used to
use daily. So there's old wells

and foundations and everything
all over the place, after the

shipbuilding days kind of died
down population dropped off. And

now you just got a bunch of
crazy rednecks that love it out

here.

Rhys Waters: So for the venture
to thrive, the family knew they

needed some defined roles and
responsibilities.

Unknown: We have all got our own
area of discipline, you know,

like I, I'm, if it's anything to
do with the viticulture, and

it's me,

My Father Louis Cuttino So
Louis, my dad's, you know, a

amazing career as sort of a
bureaucrat in different areas of

municipal government in Nova
Scotia. And but one thing he was

always a passion for him was he
had a green thumb. So it was

like dad, you know, make this
place look pretty whatever that

takes. So and, and so you know,
whether it's all the gardens,

which look amazing, and
immaculate, he does all the

property management in general,
he'll do everything from mowing

the grass here. And then what he
really has taken an enjoyment

too, is working in the vineyard.
So he's taken a lot of a lot of

time and spent a lot of time
with the guys and girls in the

vineyard learning about the
grapes. For Dad, he also does

our vineyard tours. So, you
know, a lot of times wineries

will have you know, of course, a
lot of staffs, they want to give

you a tour, and it's they're
great. But people have really

liked the fact that you have an
owner taking you out to see his

vineyard and talking to you
about the grapes and fielding

questions and dad loves it. And
he's good at it.

It's anything to do with
business development and, and

hold the stuff it's curl.

I am the president fancy name
and Operations Manager. What

that really entails is
overseeing all of our

operations, both retail
wholesale, working with our

winemaker working with our
vineyard manager to know what

grapes are we growing? What wine
are we making? Who's going to

buy it? Where are we going to
sell it.

So anything to do with retail
management and the restaurant

and Shawn and the you know, the
wine wine tasting somebody

aside,

my wife Jamie, she is our social
media, manager consultants,

everyone want to call it she
does all of our correspondents

with any customer inquiries, we
kind of carved that role,

because we knew we had the four
kids at home. And it wouldn't be

possible for us to both be on
site. But yet we both play

critical roles in the business
running every day. Last

certainly not least is my mom,
Vila contino. So she does

everything behind the scenes and
in front of the scenes. So she's

payroll, bookkeeping, benefits,
health and safety, all those

things that businesses need to
have. And then she also you

know, by choice works in our
retail store and works are our

cash, right. So she's the sort
of the last person you see and

sometimes the greeter when you
come in, but she's definitely

the last person you see before
you leave to help leave that

lasting impression. And part of
what the way we built our model,

because there is five of us is
to leverage the fact that

there's five of us. So we have a
great team of employees and

staff both in the vineyard and
winery and in the kitchen. But

for us, it's we want to be the
first touch point and only like

an owner will be your first
touch point. If you reach out on

social media, you'll get Jamie
if you call the winery you'll

get Vela or Shawn, you know, if
you reaching out for private

events, if you're reaching out
from a restaurant or wholesale,

you're going to get me if you're
in the vineyard, trying to get

my dad, you know, so we cover
our butts in that sense that

chances are you're going to meet
one owner of Avondale sky when

you come here. Don't know which
one, but you're going to meet

one. And you can tell him that
sometimes you'd meet five, you

know, so that that is what I
think is kind of makes us

different. And that's what
everybody's role is outside of

just trying to be the best we
can be every day

we're all in. But we've all got
special interests. And none of

us seem to have disagreed with
each other. I mean, we do have

our board meetings as a family
and but we exchanged you know

with this frank exchange and
what what we'd like to see

changed so what we can do
better, how we can improve our

service and so on. So it's As a
family we working well together.

We all know clearly what our
goals

we want to make it feel like
you're coming to our house.

They're all How would you how
would you treat a guest coming

to your home. We want them to
feel like that we want our staff

to feel like that and to convey
that same feeling to to our

customers.

Rhys Waters: As the family
settled into their roles and got

to know the team, they found
some surprising shared passions

to bond over

Unknown: a really interesting
story when we first bought this

business we came in and you
know, I myself and my brother,

we've always been hip hop fans
right? We went down and are

winemaker Ben has actual
pictures of rappers on the tank

so he can tell the tanks apart.
So there's biggie. There's Rick

Kim, there's now the tall skinny
one there. That's snoop. So you

know like those are kind of some
of the things because otherwise

it's like what a tank one tank
to take three take a deep, so

it's like they're all named
after rappers. There's little

Kim little Kim's just a small
tag, but she's She's feisty. So

that's just some of the stuff
that we have here, which kind of

keeps it fun. So when we saw
that we're like, Man, this is

like, perfect. This guy. We're
we're kind of the same cloth.

Rhys Waters: Since he took over
Carly's no see and some amazing

upsides beyond the excitement of
a new business.

Unknown: You know, like a lot of
people, you know, my wife talks

to her mom every day. I now I
talked to my parents multiple

times a day. But before it was
like once every week, once every

two weeks, maybe it was a text,
maybe it was an email, maybe it

was a brief phone call. Maybe
they popped in when they were

going to Costco, you know, and
all of a sudden, it's like we're

talking all the time, every hour
about something totally

different, but still may be
relevant to the business. And

then we break and we talk about
family and we talk about the

grandkids and all that stuff,
too.

It's a whole to me lease on
life, just something that I

didn't know very much about
before. But I am so eager to

learn every little bit of the
business.

It went from like, we're not so
sure we want to buy a winery we

want to travel and just enjoy
retirement to you can't keep

them away from there.

Just being working with my with
my sons. You know, it's just

this, I don't know how to
describe it. But when when

you're in a family business, and
you can work together and do

what we do. My biggest fear
about retirement was that I was

gonna get bored. I'm not bored.
I'm really active. In fact, I

trimmed down from about 159
pounds. I'm now at about 142.

And that's you know, I'm feeling
fed strong.

Shawn: Oh, high points. Oh,
there's so many highs, I guess.

Well, we recently won a
Leftenant Governor Award for

Excellence in Nova Scotia wines,
which was super awesome that our

winemaker did that. But really
just seeing the growth, I think

we've done a lot of changes. And
it's that, to me has been super

rewarding. So whether it's from
the painting outside to the

shells that I built from scratch
for retail, to getting the mural

done on about the story of the
winery. I think that has been

just super rewarding because you
put it on your list of things to

do in trying action for the next
year. And we made a lot of those

things come through Come come
come to fruition. And so,

really, that's what I've always
loved about business is that

autonomy. You set your mind and
you get to make those decisions

and then you go and execute that
to me just get put a price on that.

Rhys Waters: In the next
episode, as the Cortino family

begins to blossom, fate throws
them a curveball.

Unknown: Well, two months after
we bought it COVID hits was like

oh man.

Shawn: We've put a lot on our
plate that we might not be able

to. We bit off more than we can
chew.

Rhys Waters: If you'd like to
know more about Avondale sky

winery, visit Avondale sky.com
or search Avondale sky on social

media platforms.

This has been a Podstarter
production