What started with our Walking Winery Tour in June for our honeymoon soon turned into a visit to every winery in the province.

The Wine Passport is a handy little booklet that acts as your tour guide to most (not all) of the wineries in our province.  This week, we successfully completed the passport by collecting stamps (and samples) from all 12 of the featured wineries.

After our Annapolis Valley Walking Winery tour, we spent the next day checking four more off our list.  We were tired from the 20k walk the day before, and wanted to buy a few bottles, so we opted for a car. We started day two with Benjamin Bridge.  This experience was so great that we had to write about it right away. It got its own post, which you can read here.

Blomidon Winery

Next, we headed to Blomidon (@BlomidonEstate).  Like all of the NS wineries we have visited to date, the Blomidon property had a character all its own.  We liked that the grape varieties were labeled, so that you could get a sense of the difference in the colour and size of the grapes that go into your favorite vino.

You could try one wine free of charge, or purchase one of a series of tasting flights. We opted for the L’Acadie Blanc, Tidal Bay, Rose, Baco Noir, Reserve Chardonnay, and the Reserve L’Acadie Blanc.  At the time, we liked the reserve L’Acadie the best, but since then have grown partial to the Tidal Bay.

We made a pit stop to nearby Blomidon to check out the mudflats:

 

Location:
Blomidon Winery
10318 Highway 221
Habitant, NS

Website: http://blomidonwine.ca/

Season: May – December

Sainte Famille Wines

From Blomidon, we took a bit of a drive to get to Sainte Famille (@SainteFamWine).  They are a family owned winery located in Falmouth.  They have a nice gazebo that can be used for tastings, but only if you have 10 people or more.  There is a price for tastings, but it starts at $3.50 per person for a selection of 4.  We tried Nautica, Riesling, Avon Blanc, Sandpiper Foch, Foret, and Baco Noir.   We left with a red, the Baco Noir.

Location:
Sainte Famille Wine
11 Dudley Park Lane
RR#2, Falmouth, NS

Website: http://st-famille.com/

Season: 
Monday to Saturday 9AM – 5PM
Sundays 11PM – 5PM
Closed Sundays January – April.

Avondale Sky Winery

Finally, we headed to Avondale Sky (@AvondaleSky). While Avondale Sky is one of the newest Nova Scotian Wineries, the vineyard itself is one of the oldest.  When the owners decided to create a winery, they initially sought to purchase an old barn and ended up with offers for a few churches.  They settled on St. Matthews Church from Walton.

They moved the church from Walton to its current location by floating it 42km down the river.  It is an impressive sight, with ornate stained glass windows allowing coloured light to flood into the tasting area.  You can read more about the church, and its journey, at www.waltonchurch.ca.

Their wines were equally impressive.  We tried Tidal Bay, Bin 15, Lavender, and The Landing.  Tidal Bay was our favourite here.  They also sell a number of Canadian treats, including this amazing garlic salt rub that we tasted along side the wines.

Location:
Avondale Sky Winery
80 Avondale Cross Road
Newport Landing, NS

Website: http://www.avondalesky.com/

Season:
Closed December 22 – January 1
Winter is weekends only.

That was all the wineries we tried that weekend, but since our honeymoon weekend we have continued to make our way around the NS Wineries. If you’re looking to learn more about Nova Scotia wines, check out our Complete Guide to Nova Scotia Wines HERE.

Follow our adventures live:
@GillianWesleyNS
@DrewMooreNS
Facebook