John Szabo’s Buyer’s Guide to Vintages July 19th Release

Nova Scotia & Outdoor BBQ

By John Szabo MS and David Lawrason, with notes from David Lawrason, Michael Godel and Megha Jandhyala

What’s the best winery in Canada? We hope you’re enjoying the daily instalments of results from the 2025 WineAlign National Wine Awards. The thrills culminate on July 30 with the announcement of all Platinum medal winners, the top 1% of wines, followed by the Best Performing Small Winery on July 31, and finally the most coveted award of all, the Winery of the Year on Aug. 1, published along with the Top Wineries Lists. Share the news with your friends — they’ll thank you.

Even post awards judging, we’ve been inundated by great local wine, with David, Michael and I just back from the annual International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration (i4C) held in Niagara. We were heartened to hear from several winegrowers, anecdotally at least, about the surge in Ontario wine sales over the past four months thanks to space on LCBO shelves and restaurant wine lists opening up due to the absence of American products. Canadian wine is gaining momentum. And on that note, don’t forget that you can now (legally) order Canadian wines from any province to be shipped anywhere in the country since the elimination of interprovincial shipping restrictions, another gift inspired by our neighbours. Your best money is spent on a Platinum Pack, a 12×1 mixed case of the very best from the awards.

The LCBO-Vintages July 19 release features “BBQ wines and outdoor entertaining,” so, if you missed getting our annual curated Summer BBQ case, we have suggestions for you in the Buyer’s Guide. And rounding out Canadian coverage, the mini-thematic this week is Nova Scotia, with a clutch of delicious, WineAligned maritime wines hitting shelves. Read on for details.

Nova Scotia’s 160 Billion Tons of Seawater

Vineyards in the Annapolis Valley (winesofnovascotia.ca)

Nova Scotia has about 20-odd wineries today, scattered as far as Cape Breton Island and the Northumberland Shore. But the heartland of the industry lies in the Annapolis Valley, centered around the charming town of Wolfville about one hour by car northwest of Halifax. The region is most heavily influenced by the adjacent Bay of Fundy where the world’s highest tides see 160 billion tonnes of seawater flow in and out with each tidal cycle. Air movement accompanies the water flow, keeping vineyards refreshed and bathed in salty sea air as early ripening grapes simmer slowly to maturity over cool summers.

Forget hearty cabernet and merlot. Nova Scotia excels at light, crunchy, maritime wines, sometimes effervescent, always fresh and naturally low in alcohol. It’s as though nature conspired to provide ideal conditions to produce wines that seem inexorably destined to wash down the abundant seafood and shellfish for which the province is rightly famous.

Wine Regions of Nova Scotia (vineyards.com)

Three Nova Scotia wines are worth your attention in the July 19 release, starting with Benjamin Bridge’s wildly successful Nova 7 sparkling, which Michael describes as the “True OG in Canadian wine.” I’m not entirely sure what he means, but in any case, this sweet-sour, light and tangy, exotic and aromatic blend of muscat, ortega, riesling, geisenheim, l’Acadie, and vidal is like a proper sea shanty in a glass. Whatever that means (delicious).

Nova Scotia also boasts the only appellation wine in Canada in the true sense of the meaning, where grape blend, place and style are prescribed by a set of rules. The province’s signature wine is called Tidal Bay, an appellation created in 2011 to define white wines made, of course, from 100% Nova Scotia grown grapes, from a list that includes L’Acadie blanc, seyval, vidal and geisenheim, among others. It’s further defined as light-bodied with around 10–11% alcohol, off-dry but with less than 20 grams of sugar per liter, fragrant but without oak influence, all aspects that are assessed by an independent tasting panel. Simon Rafuse from Blomidon makes an exemplary Tidal Bay that delivers the magic of instantly conjuring up an Atlantic sea breeze and a plump, briny Crassostrea virginica freshly shucked.

Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards

Red wines are rarer in the province, and red vinifera varieties even more so, so expect a range of hybrid grapes that are ultimately better suited to the province’s growing conditions. The best wines invariably lean into the genuinely cool climate, where natural conditions favour light, zesty, crushable reds that have become so fashionable of late, the kind best served with a chill. A fine example of the genre is Lightfoot and Wolfville’s 2022 Fauna Red, a lighthearted blend of Léon Millot, marquette and petite pearl, soft, fresh and easy. Called it a seafood red. Call it a charcuterie red. Call it a grilled sausage or red-sauced pizza red. You get the point.

With momentum for Canadian wines growing, it’s a fine time to discover a taste of the east coast.

BBQ and Outdoor Wines

I tend to prefer more intensely aromatic and flavourful wines when drinking outdoors, especially when a breeze kicks up or smoke is wafting from the grill. Subtle wines get lost, blown away, railroaded by a raft of competing smells. For this reason I also tend to leave my most prized wines in the cellar — it’s rarely an ideal time to enjoy all of the nuances for which you presumably paid a tidy sum. Leave those wines for more contemplative indoor dining and reach instead for more simple pleasures.

Whites in this release that fit the bill include Tasca d’Almerita’s Sicilian classic, the 2024 Regaleali Bianco, now into its 64^th vintage. It’s a delightfully fresh blend of inzolia, catarratto, grecanico and a splash of chardonnay, and I particularly like the savoury-herbal-tonic flavours, like the Sicilian countryside itself, and the gentle salinity that draws one back for additional sips.

Closer to home, Charles Barker’s 2023 Laundry Vineyard Riesling from the Vinemount Ridge sub-region of the Niagara Peninsula is an excellent wine with terrific density and depth. It packs an unusually weighty flavour punch at just 11.8% alcohol, which also means that you can sip it in the sunshine without the dizzying effects of higher alcohol, and maybe even enjoy a second glass or three.

A red that stood out for me for pleasure and value is the Pipoli Aglianico del Vulture 2021 from Fantini Wines. Fantini is a massive company with vineyards and wineries throughout southern Italy, which, with economies of scale and a fine terroir like the slopes of the extinct volcano Mount Vulture in Basilicata, spells out value. I’ve been a big fan of these wines since first visiting the region over a decade ago, more rustically charming than the bigger, sturdier aglianico of Taurasi in neighbouring Campania. It’s a little cooler on Vulture at higher elevations, and the particular biotype of the variety grown in the region is different enough to yield a unique style, lighter but especially savoury and pot pourri-inflected, as in this well-priced example. Expect a mid-weight palate with succulent acids and fine-grained tannins, perfect to wash down a flank steak with chimichurri or a grilled portobello.

See below for more options and enjoy the heart of the Canadian summer and all the great outdoor adventures it affords.

Buyer’s Guide Vintages July 19: Nova Scotia

Benjamin Bridge Nova 7 Sparkling 2024, Nova Scotia, Canada
$22.95, Lifford Wine & Spirits (Select Wine Merchants)
John Szabo – Nova 7 has been wildly successful for Benjamin Bridge, captivating with its delightfully fresh and floral, botanical, orchard fruit profile on a medium dry palate bursting with flavour and framed by gentle effervescent. And at just 6.5% alcohol, it also ticks the box for those seeking lower alcohol alternatives with full flavour. Delicious stuff for the back patio, or dock or deck or terrace.
Michael Godel – True OG in Canadian wine, perfumed as it has ever been. Consistently low alcohol, ever so slightly effervescent, not unlike Moscato d’Asti. A light, refreshing and bloody delicious elixir best for sipping, but also magical to blend into cocktails.
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