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/
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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production