When the subject of Avondale Sky Winery comes up in conversation, locals love to tell the tale of the church that walked on water.
That’s because in 2011, the winery’s previous owners decided to move a century-old, deconsecrated church to their land to repurpose it as a tasting room. However, there was a slight problem: the beautiful old building was too wide to drive through the narrow streets of the nearby town of Walton, N.S.
Instead, they floated the 30-tonne building 42 kilometres down the Bay of Fundy and the Avon River before transporting it up a hill and plopping it at the winery just outside of Newport, N.S. More than a decade later, the church is an integral part of the winery’s history that spans a couple of decades, different owners, multiple awards and, of course, wine.
Avondale Sky’s history as a winery dates back to the mid-1980s, when Andrew and Mary Bennett planted vineyards on land that had formerly been a dairy farm. Stewart Creaser and Lorraine Vassalo took over the property in 2009, and created the winery, floating in the church a couple of years later.
In 2019, the Coutinho family bought Avondale Sky Winery, closing the real estate deal on the 110-acre property that November. Karl Coutinho, the winery’s president and operations manager, was working for TD Bank Financial Group at the time. When a friend and business broker had emailed him about a listing for a winery, he was intrigued.
“I knew it was a big venture to undertake. I couldn’t do it by myself,” he said. He asked his family if they’d be interested in joining him. “It took some convincing,” he said. “None of us had any wine background outside of drinking it.” In the end, they agreed to invest, drawn by the fact that they could all work together in a beautiful place in a beautiful part of Canada. Ownership is split between Karl and his parents (mom Avila and dad Louis), his wife (Jaime) and his brother (Sean).
“It’s an opportunity for us to all work together, to keep learning and to keep us all in Nova Scotia, where we’re from,” said Karl. “And we’re still learning, every day.” Each family member plays a distinct role. Karl handles most of the marketing and external negotiations with liquor stores, restaurants and so on. He also creates the Avondale Sky Podcast, which tells the family’s history, stories of the region and some of the realities of running a winery.
Wine Growers Canada members and the wine industry in Canada as a whole are very collaborative and very supportive. It’s not a dog-eat-dog world, which I think is fabulous. We may be competitors in the liquor store, but we all want to see all-Canadian wine succeed, everywhere.
Karl Coutinho, Avondale Sky Winery
“I could see the trend a couple of years ago toward podcasts and no one was really doing one locally,” Karl said. “I figured what a cool thing to say that we did, to get our story on record, even if no one was listening to it.” However, it turned out that people did listen. “And now we’re partnering with local tourism groups to share their stories, too.”
Jaime, a dental hygienist by day, handles the winery’s social media and helps with some of the business and product management. Louis is the property manager, in charge of landscaping, which includes 23 acres of vines. “He works in the vineyard with the vineyard crew as a hobby,” Karl said. “He really enjoys that side of the business.” Avila handles the bookkeeping, but can often be found greeting people when they stop by the winery, while Sean is a sommelier and Avondale’s general manager, dealing with much of the on-site demands, including the wine shop.
It sounds like the makings of a reality TV show, but they do their best to keep business and family separate. “I think we’re doing quite well, managing it together,” Karl said. “We don’t always see eye to eye, but we have respectful conversations, plus everybody has their own area of expertise, so we’re not tripping over each other every day. And family dinner is a family dinner. It’s not a place to talk business.”
It helps, too, that there are people involved who aren’t family. They employ a full-time year-round winemaker, Ben Swetnam, and vineyard manager Pete Smits. During high season, they have an additional 15 to 20 staff who help in the vineyard, the tasting room and the winery restaurant, which features cuisine from wine regions around the world, made with local ingredients.
As for the Avondale Sky wines, they are primarily sold at the winery, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, at restaurants in Nova Scotia and a handful of wine shops in the province. Two Newfoundland wine shops have recently picked up listings and, of course, the team sells direct to consumers across Canada to provinces where it is legal to ship. They grow 13 to 15 varietals, which they use to make a range of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines; roughly 50,000 to 60,000 bottles per year.
They have won Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for their bubbles, including the 2013 Blanc de Noir and the 2015 sparkling L’Acadie. “Nova Scotia makes world-class sparkling wines that compete with some of the best Champagnes in the world,” Karl said. Perhaps the most important in this category are the Tidal Bay wines, an appellation created in Nova Scotia in 2012. To be labelled Tidal Bay, each wine must be a white wine made of at least 51 per cent L’Acadie Blanc, Seyval Blanc, Vidal or Geisenheim grapes grown in Nova Scotia, with a maximum permitted alcohol content of 11 per cent.
“There are 14 wineries in Nova Scotia that make a Tidal Bay appellation wine every year, and we are one of them,” Karl said. “We are a cool climate region, and what we do best are white wines and sparkling wines.” Most of the grapes grown on the estate and nearby land are hybrids; grapes that can handle the region’s tough winters and capricious climate. “And many of the wines we make have a slightly sweeter profile,” said Karl. “That’s what our winemaker specializes in.”
Ferry Road – a table wine made from Marechal Foch and Lucie Kuhlmann – is the winery’s most popular red wine, year after year. Bliss, a popular white wine, is made of 100 per cent Geisenheim grapes. “It’s great on its own, but also pairs well with spicy food,” Karl said. “It’s a wine that even a non-wine-drinker will like. If someone says they’re a beer drinker or a rum drinker, we suggest this one, and 99 per cent of the time, they like it. It has a real cult following.”
Then there’s Lady Slipper Rosé, a nod to the three types of wild lady slipper flowers that grow on the land. “It’s an off-dry rosé, a good holiday wine with turkey dinner, that sort of thing,” Karl said. “It’s perfect for charcuterie and cheese.”
He has a soft spot for the Notorious RED, named in homage to one of his favourite musicians, the late American rapper Notorious BIG. “I’m a Notorious BIG fan, big time,” he said. “And this is a red blend that varies from year to year: Marechal Foch, Lucie Kuhlmann, Castel, all non-vinifera hybrid grapes.” They also grow some vinifera grapes, including Pinot Noir, but the vines are still recovering after a brutal cold snap in February 2023. When possible, they also buy Riesling and Chardonnay from other growers in the province.
It’s a really cool thing, that I get to work with my wife, my parents and my brother, and I’m just a few years away from working shoulder to shoulder with my kids.
Karl Coutinho, Avondale Sky Winery
The winery is about 20 minutes from Wolfville and Gaspereau, but isn’t located particularly close to other wineries. To compensate, they’ve had to innovate to find fans. This year, they partnered with Church Brewing, located in Wolfville. The brewery, which also has an old church on its property, fermented the winery’s leftover grape skins to create beer. Named Life after Death, it’s a nod to the fact that the grapes have a second life after making wine (and another homage to the late rapper, Notorious BIG, as Life After Death was one of his most popular albums).
The Avondale Sky team also works closely with tour operators who bring visitors from throughout the province. “One has a standing appointment every afternoon, every weekend,” Karl said. “Sometimes they’ll do just a tasting. Sometimes they’ll do a tasting and lunch.” In the summer, the family invites local vendors to sell at a weekend market. “We don’t charge anyone to come and sell,” Karl said. “We hope it will encourage people to think of it as a destination, and it’s a nice place for commerce in what would otherwise be quite a rural area.”
Karl says Avondale’s Wine Growers Canada membership has aided their success. “It’s really important to know what’s going on around the country,” he said. “There are some issues that affect just Nova Scotia, but there are other things that affect all of us winemakers and winery owners across the country.” If it isn’t an issue that’s currently facing every region, it may be something that another region has dealt with in the past, he says.
“Sometimes we’re dealing with something that maybe happened in Niagara 10 years ago,” he said. “It’s really nice to have that sounding board and to find out how they handled it.” He also says it’s simply nice to have the support and a sense of community. “Wine Growers Canada members and the wine industry in Canada as a whole are very collaborative and very supportive,” he said. “It’s not a dog-eat-dog world, which I think is fabulous. We may be competitors in the liquor store, but we all want to see all-Canadian wine succeed, everywhere.”
Indeed, advocacy and giving back to the community are hardwired into the Coutinho family. Karl is board chair of Wine Growers Nova Scotia, a group that formed in 2002 to serve as a voice for Nova Scotia wineries. Avila sits on the FarmWorks Investment Co-op Board, which promotes food-related businesses in the province, while Sean is on the board of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers in Nova Scotia. Last but not least, Louis is on the board at Grape Growers Association of Nova Scotia. The family donates time and product to various fundraisers for people with special needs, especially those connected with the Canadian Progress Club, of which Karl is a member.
Everyone is busy, but they’re together. Karl has never regretted leaving his banking job to be closer to his family. “My twin boys are eight years old, my daughter is seven and my littlest boy is now four, and I get to see them all the time,” he said. “And they love going to the winery, even if it’s just to play on the tractor and see their grandfather and grandmother, or their uncle and auntie.
“It’s a really cool thing, that I get to work with my wife, my parents and my brother, and I’m just a few years away from working shoulder to shoulder with my kids. Maybe they’ll work with us at the winery. Maybe they won’t. But if they want to, there will be lots of opportunities.”
