The local wine industry has come a long way in a short time, and Gillian Mainguy of the Winery Association of Nova Scotia believes there’s still room to grow.

“The Nova Scotia wine industry is poised for growth and is on the edge of something quite exciting,” said Mainguy. “Garnering recognition for our aromatic whites, such as our appellation wine Tidal Bay, and for our sparkling wines, we are an emerging region that remains focused.

“It is exciting to be a part of this industry right now, to know that we are making a name for ourselves not only with the rest of Canada but internationally as well.”

All things wine-related will be the topics of discussion as the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium makes its return. The last symposium was held in May 2012.

This year’s event takes place at the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax from June 11-13 and features industry speakers, a trade show and wine sampling from across the Atlantic Provinces.

Mainguy said there were nine wineries in the province in 2005. A dozen years later there are 20 with a handful more to come online soon.

“A little bit of a different trajectory but I always like to compare to British Columbia,” she said. “In 1994, B.C. had the same number of wineries that we do today, and today well over 200. Not to say that we will grow to that size, we simply don't have the land area, but it certainly demonstrates how an industry can increase rapidly in a relatively short period of time.”

With growth, comes responsibility and growing pains.

“Increasing production, scaling up in general. Because it takes three to four years before you can get fruit from the vine once planted, it means a producer has to wait that long before those grapes come online. We have hundreds of new acres that have been planted in the past few years and, in the next few upcoming harvests, those grapes will start to be available.”

The industry has taken on an increasingly large role in the provincial economy.

“The grape and wine industry in Nova Scotia provides 934 full-time jobs, most of which are in rural Nova Scotia. It is also an industry that attracts skilled workers from outside of the province to come and live here, many of them young people. With a total economic impact of $218 million, I’d say we are an integral part of the business success in this province.”

She said the greatest area for growth and growth potential is tourism.

“Wineries are interesting animals. They are both agriculture, manufacturing, retail sales, and tourism businesses.”

The symposium provides professional development and opportunities to learn some best practices from some other cool-climate wine regions in the area of grape growing, winemaking and marketing/tourism.

“We have delegates from wineries, of course, particularly from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — winemakers, vineyard managers, owners, retail managers, tourism spinoff companies, sommeliers and those in the hospitality industry. A number of students have registered as well. I’m very happy with the breadth of people registered.”

Asked if there is a typical Nova Scotian wine drinker, Mainguy said: “One need only to look at our 12Tides Tidal Bay launch event to get a picture of the Wines of Nova Scotia audience — it is varied. Certainly, a lot of young women, millennials, in particular, are a large segment of the guests to our 12Tides event, but then you see a whole mixed guest list of ages and demographics. But if I had to pinpoint something noteworthy, then I would see the increase in younger people adopting and being ambassadors for local wine.”

Mainguy said the future looks good for the province’s wine industry.

“The future is what excites me most. We have worked so hard as an industry these past few years, really getting a lot of foundational work in place with regard to market development, quality certification, and regulation, and working alongside the other wine industries in Canada on some larger key trade events,” she said

Read more at Source: The Chronicle Herald