How many variables?

This episode we join the Avondale Sky Winery team as we uncover harvesting, the art of wine making and the trials of agriculture. 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/

Unknown: Welcome to Avondale sky
winery.

Rhys Waters: 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. This week
we join the team as we tour the

art of winemaking and embrace
the ups and downs of

agriculture. Katina was one of
the CO owners of Avondale sky

winery. Right now it's harvest
and the whole place is a hive of

activity.

Unknown: We're on the side here
of the winery, and we're gonna

go to the crush pad. It's quite
a cool spot. It's a busy time of

year hear it during harvest. So
CrashPad is exactly what it

sounds like. It is where grapes
get crushed where grapes come to

die and wine is born. So it's
pretty cool to see it firsthand.

Rhys Waters: The mountains of
different color grapes are

waiting for their turn in the
next step of the winemaking

process.

Unknown: Or you're passing some
bins here of grapes, you'll see

a few different ones. This is
Michelle foce. So this is a red

grape that would go in our
notorious RDD. And we've got I

believe this is some Vidal
grapes. So these are actually

from another vineyard that is
proud here. So we buy grapes

from probably four or five
different vineyards in Nova

Scotia. So it's still Nova
Scotia grapes. But it helps

supplement the harvest that we
have here. And also, even though

we're a small province, you can
actually get very different

growing conditions and climates
that can lead to different

quality of grapes. So it's kind
of nice to get a bit of a blend

of even if it's the same type of
grape, you might get a higher

sugar content, which is your
Brix content. I'll take you over

here. This is the actual de
stemmer it's cool thing to see

in action. So you'll actually
been with our with a forklift

will will dump the grapes into
the D stemmer. All the stems

will get spit out into that bin,
the grapes get pumped out right

into the grape press which I can
take you over and show you that

you can see this is already it's
not in use yet. But you will see

soon enough and then the hose
will actually pump the grapes

right into this press skins and
all if you've

Rhys Waters: never seen a great
press, it's a unique

contraption.

Unknown: It's got like obviously
it's got a little bit of a great

to it so the juice can get out
but not the skins it would look

like what I would view is like a
torpedo or something like that.

And it also has an eerie way
looks like a metal coffin. But

yeah, that's it's got like the
big bladder inside is is

obviously it's inflatable,
almost like a big balloon that

you put air pressure and it will
actually squeeze and it's got

you know six different metal
leads on here. You can hear and

then those get locked with a
beam so nothing nothing is

getting out except juice and and
then there's a crank that will

obviously help rotate it but I
don't know that I can compare

this to any other thing I've
seen in my life otherwise,

Rhys Waters: amongst the hustle
and bustle of the machines. A

key team member is in his
element, winemaker band.

Unknown: And this is Ben Ben
Sweetnam. Our winemaker here at

Avondale sky.

Hello. Well, right now we're
just getting everything set up

to crush and press some of Vidal
grapes that we received late

last night, press all the juice
out. And then yeah, cold settled

the juice overnight, so that
little bits of skins and seeds

or whatever that gets through,
settles out, it wouldn't make

very good wine if you just
started fermenting it right

away. So you take the nice clear
clean juice right off the top

Rhys Waters: band has a relaxed
nature. But honestly, this is

crunch time for the whole
operation.

Unknown: This will be our
biggest day I think of the

harvest, we get eight tons to
process today, which by some

wineries, you know would
consider a morning's work but

for us, it'll be all day we're
pretty small, quite frankly,

just the grapes won't wait, you
can't get them. Once they're

off, you gotta gotta deal with
them right away. And this is

this is the one chance a year I
get to get it right. So don't

wanna, you know, don't want to
shortchange all the work that

everybody put into growing those
grapes by not getting at

Rhys Waters: it. And just like
the Cupertino family, wine for

Ben is more than just a job.

Unknown: It's really nice to
make something like wine that so

many people around the world
enjoy and get something that

brings people together around a
table too. It's one of those

things he promotes conversation
and good times and I think it's

it's a special industry to be
in.

Rhys Waters: Once the price has
crushed the grapes it's the next

stop will be one of the many
tanks

Unknown: forgive all the
background noise So, as the

machinery is going, I can take
you through definitely tight

quarters. If you want to take a
step just watch your step around

the hoses. So there's lots of
hoses and fans and chillers and

extension cords and, and this is
Maria Maria is was just cleaning

a tank God lover. So that's
where the wind is going to be

ending up today. So from the
press that we saw, that hose is

fed right into where that tank
is going to be in, that's where

that wine that the doubt grapes
will sit until we're ready to

actually be there blended into
some wines like tidal Bay, or

make it into a wine like nirvana
or something like that.

Interestingly enough, the dowel
that grape is also the grape

that would be used for ice wine.
If the conditions were right,

these are stainless steel tanks.
And they're all you know, some

of them they look the same when
you're close, but they're all

actually different sizes. You
can see right on here, the year

that they were made, where they
came from, what their capacity

is, this is our biggest tank
after we named Biggie as I said,

named after some rappers you
Little Kim right beside him,

just like they do in Brooklyn.
And yeah, so it's tight. But you

know, it's well managed. And Ben
Ben definitely keeps a good

handle on it keeps it very
sanitary, but it's you if you're

claustrophobic, this might not
be your your favorite place to

be.

I'm just filling up a jug to put
some cleaning solution and clean

out these tanks. Just them here.
It's all cleaning and logistics

management.

Rhys Waters: And choosing the
right tank for the right batch

is always a big gamble.

Unknown: But something like
harvest, the challenge you're

dealing with is, you know, one
you're getting grapes. Okay,

well, how much is that actually
going to equate to in juice? And

it's not like, oh, okay, we were
near the top, like, do we have

enough room or not? Because
where's that juice gonna go?

It's gonna go on the ground. And
we're wasting it right? So Ben's

got to do a really tough job of
estimating how much and you also

don't want to waste space, like
you don't want a tank filled to

an example. 60% full. And now
what do we do with the other 40%

Maybe that could have all fit
into a smaller tank. So it's a

bit of a juggling act. But it's
also then what great what wines

you're going to make from these
grapes because you can't just

put them all into one tank
because you're going to you

know, end up with with a big
mixed bag. For Ben,

Rhys Waters: there are a lot of
mysteries around this process

that he's eager to educate
visitors about.

Unknown: One of the sort of
simplest things that most people

don't realize is just the
process for white and Rosae

versus the process for red
that's completely different. And

a lot of people just think that
everything is you just press the

juice out and fermented with
reds, you ferment the whole

berry. So it's a totally
different process to whites and

roses. And I don't think I don't
think many people realize that.

I think the other thing that a
lot of people don't realize is

we don't add water to the it's
just grape juice. A lot of

people especially if they're
home home, winemakers getting

stuff from kits, you know,
there's a lot of concentrate and

rehydrating and that kind of
thing. And in professional

winemaking it's just grape
juice.

Rhys Waters: And while the team
use a wide variety of Nova

Scotia grapes, the wineries
location has significance. It's

a beautiful

Unknown: location a beautiful
part of the province. I think

it's it's a special little spot
here between the three rivers

and you know, the vineyards
really interesting from a soils

point of view and, and the
climate is very unique with with

the tidal influence from from
the Kanak, St. Croix and the

Avalon rivers. So it's it's just
kind of a special little spot.

So you'll see now Ben's actually
got the toe up on the forklift,

just so you can appreciate what
we're seeing here. And from from

Maria's vantage point, it's
sometimes really scary. You can

see the juice coming out of
this. Now what's different about

this is these are machine picked
grapes. Okay, so at our

vineyard, we do all handpick
grapes. So if this was a bucket

of our grapes, it would be all
grapes. But because this is

machine picked a lot of it. This
came from another vineyard in

Nova Scotia. A lot of it does
get pressed early. And that was

Ben's point. We don't have time
to let it sit around in a bin it

will go bad and so we got to get
it pumped, properly filtered and

then into a tank and allow the
wine making process to begin.

And then this is go time it's
like we're pressing it if it's

ready to go. This is the first
step or I guess the first step

of the winemaking process now
that it's the vineyard process

is done.

Rhys Waters: While these grapes
are waiting to be crushed, there

are still 1000s sat in neat rows
waiting to be picked. And it's

not just grape pickers waiting
to get their hands on them.

Unknown: One thing we'll watch
out for is there is an electric

fence that's up right now. So we
will make sure to stay away from

that it could be on a raccoons
this time of year, and other

wildlife love to get in and get
as much grapes as they can. And

they do it quick, believe it or
not. And the bigger fence around

the outside is to keep larger
wildlife like deer out. And when

we first bought this business,
there was no fence and we

actually were losing a lot of
grapes to, to wildlife,

especially deer. And what they
do is they'll they'll get in

there and eat the shoots to the
point that the grapes don't even

grow.

Rhys Waters: For vineyard
manager Pete It can be a

spectacle.

Peter: Well, my name is Peter
Smits, and I'm the vineyard

manager, it happened to Sky
winery here. The raccoons are

they're just non stop there. And
they, they just, if they get in,

they will completely strip a
section bare and very little in

a very short amount of time. And
they're just little processing

machines just in one end and out
the other. And it's just they're

terrible. We've got an electric
fence that covers the whole area

around the vineyard, and it does
keep them out. But even then

they they constantly test if
they go up to the fence and see

if it's working and it normally
is so they get shocked and run

away. And then a few hours
later, come back to a different

section and test the fence and
see if it's working, get shocked

and run away. So you've got to
be always on guard, they never

really learned their lesson and
sort of wait around and see,

well, maybe maybe two hours
later, the fence won't be off.

But and the deer we used to have
a problem with them. But we did

put up this great big high deer
fence around here. So keeps them

away. So they they were a major
problem in the spring coming and

nibbling our young shoots of the
vines as they were emerging out

of dormancy from the winter. But
now that has been taken care of

and everything can grow to its
full potential out here.

Unknown: In here, we've got 23
acres of vines 15 or so

varietals of grapes, that we
grow ourselves, the actual

property is 109 acres. So
there's a lot of land that's not

used for grape growing. But at
the same time. You know, you see

this and you think, oh my god,
we got to pick all these grapes

with our hands. And it's, it can
be daunting, but we have an

amazing crew. We've got
volunteers here as well that

come out to help us pick the
grapes. And it's it's about six

weeks of picking you can see
some of the laxity here.

Rhys Waters: The picturesque
vineyards are a place anyone

would want to enjoy spending
time. It's why people volunteer

every year to come and pick.

Unknown: I think some people
like will last through the year.

You know if they're interested
in volunteering and many people

want to do it just for half a
day or a day. Experience it.

It's very peaceful. You can put
your, you know, music on or you

can you can just stand out
yourself and meditate while

you're doing it. It's quite
peaceful. You know, there's been

a lot of times when my wife and
I are doing it, she's like,

she'll come up to me and she'll
say, can you get the song I

Heard It Through the Grapevine
out of your head and things so

it's just like those things like
you're just you're singing to

yourself, you're talking to
yourself. And then we start

saying is that where the phrase
I heard it through the grapevine

came from because sometimes you
can't see the person on the

other side of the vine because
there's so many leaves but

you're still having a
conversation we'll go out and

see the see the pickers.

Rhys Waters: The sounds of happy
grape pickers travel

Unknown: we're just picking some
martial folks grapes and yeah,

just having a good day at it.
Geez been pretty, pretty good.

Going down the line here. Yeah,
it's good for the community.

We're just kind of helping the
vineyard out taking some grapes

and hopefully this is a good
help for them. Our

business offered us to go up for
the day and try it out. And I

thought it was a neat
experience. Just to see the

vineyards and the beautiful and
seeing the the starting point

and everything.

Volunteer: The joy being out in
the fresh air, helping the

community is great experience
and learning a lot. They it's

giving back to our community and
supporting local communities

thrive. And right now, as far as
I'm understanding is that the

wineries are hurting for
helpers. So definitely get out

there, help out your local
winery and get back.

Volunteer 2: I come every
harvest so I've been coming for

about six years now. I like
being out with different people

with the fresh air moving being
active. Yeah, the people are

great too. I think it's a huge
bonus for anybody coming into

something like this to say where
it starts, how it ends, that

glass of wine at the bottom, but
to be out and be active is so

beneficial on itself.

Rhys Waters: And while the
volunteers are an important part

of Peck in the vineyard has a
roster of paid staff, many of

whom live locally, Jamie's
family have found employment

here at the vineyard. Well, my

Unknown: family roots can
probably be traced right back to

the shipbuilding days back here
in this particular area. But

we've been, we've been my
physical family is it my mom and

dad, we bought land here in the
early 70s. There's other family

members that have been around
for a lot longer than that in

this area. But I grew up through
here playing in the woods and

everything all through here.

And like Jamie, one stage, we
had four generations, he brought

his, he brought his his, his
sons and his grandchildren. And

of course, his dad was working
at the same time. So yeah, it

was nice to see the whole
family. So it's not only it's

not only us, but it's their
family, it's, it's great to see

the family farm is as it should
be.

Rhys Waters: And the continued
growth of the Nova Scotian wine

industry has seen rural
communities thrive.

Unknown: It is an interesting
swing in the way everything

kinda, I don't even want to say
really come full circle, because

nobody's building ships anymore.
But just the simple fact that

after the flood of people from
the shipbuilding went down,

nothing else. Nothing else
disappeared, people just kind of

remained and kept plugging away
every day and became into a

great farming community, my wife
had started here first. And I

would just kind of come in
occasionally to help them when

they needed it. And then when
the opportunity came on full

time, I hopped at it, I mean,
you know, two minutes down the

road, I don't have to travel, I
could literally walk here, in

less than a half an hour, if I
needed to be here, it's really

nice, being home close to home.

You know, it really warms my
heart day, you know, not to

sound sappy about it, but it's
pretty cool. Like to be able to

know that you're employing
people in a rural community in

Nova Scotia, when there's you
know, lots of other people that

are maybe looking for work or
how to work. And to me, I think

that's, that's great. And
obviously, you know, we're

trying to all make a living at
it as well. But at the end of

the day, you get to know these
people, and they become like an

extended part of your family.

Rhys Waters: And for vineyard
manager, Pete this kind of

employment offers a great
quality of life.

Peter: Oh, this will be my 16th
year I think of picking, picking

grapes here and looking after
vineyards. So at this winery,

I've been here six years now,
the weather is quite nice out

here. And it's we get fresh air
every day. And it's we get to

experience green all around us,
which is I think that's the only

way to, it's the only way to
live really got to have green

and beautiful place around you.
And it's it keeps you in a

healthy sort of frame of mind as
well as your body healthy too.

So, so a successful harvest
really caps everything off. You

know, we love pulling off bins
and bins of beautiful looking

grapes at the end of the season.
Because up until that and that

has been the entire goal is to
keep those ones alive. And once

it's done, it's it's such a huge
relief.

Rhys Waters: And while life in
the agricultural world can offer

amazing lifestyles, no amount of
planning or investment can

control the weather.

Peter: Every year is a
challenge. But you have no idea

what that challenge is going to
be when the year starts. Every

year there's a completely
different weather phenomenon

which comes along and alters our
plans midway through and we have

to all of a sudden take a new
direction.

Rhys Waters: Shawn and the rest
of the family knew this was a

factor from the start.

Shawn: Agriculture is definitely
the biggest risk in our

business. And we knew right away
when we were buying the business

how 2018 affected the wine
industry. So 2018 was the year

Nova Scotia had a really late
frost. So I believe it was June

4 or June 5. And so the buds had
already broken or the buds were

out on the on the vines and the
frost killed them. And so we

lost that year 86% of our crop
that year in most wineries did

and it was that was across the
board with most farming I guess

not just groups. And it was a
year that we were allowed to

reach out to Ontario to get a
lot of lot of wine and I think

even for our title Bay, which is
generally has to be 100%, Nova

Scotia and grapes and all that
kind of stuff. It's 100%, Nova

Scotia wine. But that was a year
since we all lost so much like

that roughly 90% of our crops,
what can you do, right? So there

was an exception that year. And
so we knew by getting into the

business that 2018 had such a
terrible year. And that's not

something you can really
mitigate at, there's only so

much you can do. You can buy
super expensive equipment. But

this is supposed to be the frost
that only happens once every 70

years or so. And you knock on
wood and hope for the best. But

yeah, there's that and, and then
2019 was slow to recover. So

it's those grapes or they took a
hit and the vines are hurting

also. So 2019 was still just a
recovery year.

Rhys Waters: Luckily, since they
took ownership, the seasons have

been more than kind.

Shawn: Or 2020 vintage, our
first harvest with the winery

was beautiful. It was the summer
was hot, dry. And we have a lot

of old vines. So some of the
oldest vines in Nova Scotia, and

those old vines, they have
really deep roots. So if it's

hot and dry, it's okay. They
will those vines will survive

and dig deeper. They'll find
their water. So yeah, it was it

was a great, it was a great
harvest 2020. But this year was

definitely a little tougher It
was now it's getting a little

bit more to the risk management
that you can't really manage

Mother Nature herself. So yeah,
it was it was a wet year, what

July, we had a couple of hail
storms that were I think five

days apart or not even so that
rips through the canopy. So the

leaves and those are your solar
panels that will help ripen the

grapes. So yeah, you we did have
a lot of humidity, a lot of

damage from the hill. And even
the berries hadn't little chunks

taken out of them. And that can
be a place for rot to happen. So

once they're exposed to the
elements and bugs will try to

get at it all that kind of
stuff, birds will smell a little

easier of raccoons, virtually
everything nature will get to it

and when it's exposed like that.
And so sour rock can set in and

all those kinds of things.
Luckily, it was a bumper crop of

a year. And I think that's in
general from for most

agriculture. So if you looked at
an apple tree this year, it was

just full. So the thing about
grapes though, they're tight

clusters, so you did have a
little bit more disease because

you need that airflow around it.
But thankfully, since it was a

bumper crop a little bit of a
bigger year, we can cut that

out, save the quality, but still
have enough to produce. So at

the end of the at the end of the
day, we had a really high

quality harvest again this year
so

Rhys Waters: for Shawn and
Mallory living in a vineyard is

a totally new take on life.

Shawn: We get to look over the
vines literally my bedroom

window looks over virtually all
27 acres of vines out there. So

it's it's a absolutely beautiful
view. But you know, Business

never sleeps anyways. But when
you live there, it's it's, it's

at your door. I like it.
Obviously the commute to work is

not so bad I was I've always
been a night person not so much

a morning person. So having a
quick 20 second walk to work is

still is a benefit for a guy
like me, but ya know, it's, it's

enjoyable. And we have my
girlfriend and I have a puppy

now and vino and he, he loves
the land. So he has all the land

in the world to run around.

Unknown: We're really lucky to
live there, around the vineyard.

There's also some community
trails. So they're sort of just

like hiking trails through the
woods. If you do all three of

them, it's it's a 5k hike. And I
never get sick of them. I just I

want to be there every single
day of my life with my dog,

obviously. So that's been the
best. The best part for me is to

walk out of my front door and be
able to go on a hike. I don't

think many people like usually
you think of driving to a hike,

right and packing up whatever
you need for the day to go on

your hike that you're going to
drive to and I get to walk out

the door and go go on a little
hike with my dog. And you can

make your own hikes just going
through the vineyards boat. You

know, it's a two kilometer
radius of vines and it's just,

it's just awesome to have that
much space and that much nature.

And then, of course, like
watching the vines change

through the seasons is so cool.
Like it just goes from being

kind of totally brown and gray
to being so lush and green so

quickly. And yeah, it's just
it's just awesome to be to just

check on the vines week to week
and see how they're doing.

Rhys Waters: In the next
episode, the Avondale sky team

get to test all they've learned
with an exclusive event.

Unknown: The 12th will be our
first actual official grand re

Opening pickup party.

Oh like we've tried. We've
worked within the rules to have

events, but none like this.

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

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