Members of the Glooscap Nation and Benjamin Bridge signing an agreement to produce a collaboration wine. Back row: Councillor Gail Tupper, Councillor Charlotte Warrington, Councillor Amanda Francis Front row: Devon McConnell-Gordon, Chief Sidney Peters, Ashley McConnell-Gordon - Contributed
The wine world has historically made its living by telling the story of place. The French use the word "terroir" to describe how the culmination of landscape, climate, weather and culture of a wine region or a vineyard translates to the aroma and flavours of wine.
Yet, for all the romanticism the word evokes, it does not necessarily tell the full story of the land’s history.
As a wine professional, I have been guilty of drinking “the juice,” so to speak, espousing my own Eurocentric view on the definition of fine wine and its relationship to its environment.
As Benjamin Bridge’s head winemaker Jean-Benoit Deslauriers — whose wines have been championed as the definition of the Nova Scotia terroir — says, “That definition is profoundly inaccurate, as it relates to the essence and identity of the Gaspereau Valley (where Benjamin Bridge is located). When we think objectively, there was flora indigenous in our environment that was replaced with European plants. It makes no sense then to conclude that our wines capture the essence or expressly identify our ecosystem.”
Deslauriers is open about his, and the winery’s, own naivety, and bias. As he says, “If we were to go back in time when Benjamin Bridge began 20 years ago, we simply did not have same sensitives then and understanding that we have now.
"Although Benjamin Bridge always held sustainability as a core value, it would be inaccurate to suggest that we always possessed the perspective that we now have on our settler past. Twenty years ago, our understanding of the land where the vineyard was planted was almost exclusively focused on the sensory profile of our wines, and how these wines measured against European standards, such as Champagne in the case of sparkling.
"Its important to be truthful and vulnerable, rather than pretending that we always had insight into this matter.”
This week Benjamin Bridge, in partnership with the Glooscap First Nation, released a winethat seeks to not only express its place, but also its past.
Members of the Glooscap Nation worked collaboratively with Benjamin Bridge on all aspects of production, including product development and package design for their new wine. - Contributed
The 2021 Benjamin Bridge Rosé, developed via lengthy discussions between the winery and the Glooscap First Nation, is a wine designed to embrace the land in a way that imputes the contributions of the Mi’kmaq people as the stewards of the land and the ecosystems that have been nourished as a result.
As our climate is threatened by our quest to conquer rather than embrace nature, thoughtful wineries around the globe, including Benjamin Bridge, are seeking to learn from the past to better understand how to manage the future.
The collaboration between Benjamin Bridge and the Glooscap First Nation began in 2017 with the development of Beyond Terroir, a culinary focused experience featuring traditional Mi’kmaq knowledge and foods. The experience was curated by the winery to fulfill on a promise to be more sustainable, inclusive and equitable in how the winery manages its business.
Of the collaboration, Deslauriers credits Zabrina Whitman, a policy analyst with local, national and international experience for leading the project. Whitman, along with being a member of Glooscap First Nation and daughter of Elder Lorraine Whitman, herself president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, has been “part of the Benjamin Bridge family for years,” says Deslauriers. When it came time to craft the wine, Deslauriers says Whitman's input was invaluable.
"Anyone who has the opportunity to interact with Jean-Benoit and the McConnell-Gordon family will be humbled by their commitment to allyship. It is a true understanding of what we mean when we say 'we are all Treaty people."
The wine went through a series of blending and evaluation processes over the course of six months. Via ‘Ni’tap’ — a term Mi’kmaq use to describe this type of friendship — Deslauriers says, “We learned how little we actually knew about this land called Mi’kma’ki. Our lens widened to 13,000 years of sustainable and synergetic preservation of an ecosystem now under threat of climate crisis.”
Whitman says of the partnership and collaboration, “Working closely with Benjamin Bridge through many blending sessions, label designs and conversations around the table about netukulimk and sustainability has been soul fulfilling. Reconciliation is a vogue topic right now, and often organizations' actions are not genuine or meaningful. They are simply about checking a box.
"This relationship is anything but that. Anyone who has the opportunity to interact with Jean-Benoit and the McConnell-Gordon family will be humbled by their commitment to allyship. It is a true understanding of what we mean when we say 'we are all Treaty people'.
"Not only will this wine be a tangible contribution to Glooscap, but hopefully it will pave the way for more Mi'kmaq to work in the agriculture, food and wine industries.”
The wine is made from a blend of grapes including Pinot Gris, Gamay, Riesling and Ortega and is grown in vineyards along Sikunme’katik (Gaspereau River) and located in Kespukwitk, one of the seven districts of Mi’kma’ki, the traditional land of the Mi’kmaq.
The winery describes the wine as offering “on the nose, a combination of key lime sorbet and fragrant lavender is brightened by undertones reminiscent of fresh-cut mint and shaved ice. The palate is lively and exotic, with notes of zesty mango, passion fruit, and mandarin rind. The finale reverberates with mineral freshness.”
Of the partnership, Chief Sidney Peters of Glooscap First Nation says, “Reconciliation is about discussing our hard past and working together to build a bright future. And so, when we speak of the treaties, and our treaty relationship, we need to be reminded that we are all treaty people. Benjamin Bridge is an example of what that relationship can look like. They understand that this winery is on unceded Mi’kmaq territory and know that the story to tell about this land must be led by the Mi’kmaq. People ask what does reconciliation look like? This is it. It’s relationships.”
Benjamin Bridge and the Glooscap First Nation will share equal revenues generated from the sale of the wine, with Benjamin Bridge taking on the responsibility for the overhead and production costs.
The wine is available at NSLC stores, at the winery and in private wine stores in Nova Scotia.
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