Nova Scotia’s Largest Winery Partially Sold

Understanding the Nova Scotia wine industry means getting to know Jost Vineyards in Malagash on the Northumberland Strait. This is why the recent partial sale of the winery to a local businessman, Newfoundland-born Carl Sparkes, got the attention of the country’s wine industry folks.

By far the largest producer in the region, making around 60,000 cases annually and using approximately 2/3 of the grapes grown in the province, Jost is truly the only major player here. So, it makes sense that Sparkes, a branding expert in the food industry, would be interested.

Sparkes is the man behind such food brands as Dempsters bread, Olivieri pasta and Bento sushi — the sushi sold at Superstores in the region. His shares of Jost (the percentage was not disclosed but is significant) are held under his company, Devonian Coast Wineries. He loves wine and saw this as an opportunity.

Sparkes wants to make Jost a national brand. He is very focused on where the company can go, and thus the Atlantic industry itself, since Jost is such a large part of Nova Scotia wine. He has been spending his time getting to know the industry, including attending the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium, and traveling to speak to other wine people. He just got back from touring Ontario wine country, where he spoke to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) about the potential for an Atlantic wine presence.

While in Ontario, he met with the people at Rodney’s Oyster House, a well-established Toronto restaurant founded by a Maritimer and where the new Tidal Bay appellation white wine was a hit. “People seem to want to drink Canadian wines,” says Sparkes, “Nova Scotia wine has tremendous potential nationally.”

Although wine has been made commercially in Nova Scotia since the late 70s and early 80s, there have been very few wines “exported” west of New Brunswick.  Also, a lot of the reputation of Nova Scotia wine is from inexpensive blends made using a percentage of foreign juice, most of these coming from Jost. These wines pay the bills, allowing Jost to make smaller batch wines from local grapes, but the rest of the country doesn’t know much about the specialized wines.

“Nova Scotia needs to shake off some of the ghosts of the past,” says Sparkes, “People need to be given permission to be proud of their local industry.”  

Sparkes plans to use his experience to clarify the Jost brand. “There is such a wide variety of SKUs,” he explains, “Quaffing table wines versus sweet reds and reds and whites that are true to the climate and have more of an edge. It can be confusing to customers. It is not about good versus bad; I want brands that show what the wines are about.”

This partial sale does not mean that Hans Christian Jost and his wife Karen are out of the business. Jost is still the manager of both this winery and Gaspereau Vineyards in the Annapolis Valley and this change will allow him to do what he does best — work with the growers and in winery production. He is happy to not be in charge of marketing and sales, which largely involves dealing with liquor boards. “Carl, it’s all yours,” he says he told Sparkes, regarding the government dealings.

Sparkes is learning from the right person. Hans Christian Jost has been the key driving force for the local industry for decades. “I couldn’t hope for a better mentor then Hans Christian Jost,” confirms Sparkes.