Producing Super-Premium Sparkling in Nova Scotia

Finally! The official release of the first méthode classique wines from Nova Scotia sparkling specialist Benjamin Bridge was celebrated two weeks ago, with advance tastings for media, hospitality, liquor board and private store sales staff in downtown Halifax. They are releasing their 2004 Brut Reserve ($74.50, 960 bottles) and 2004 Blanc de Noirs ($119.50, 200 bottles).

The wine writer tasting was hosted by owner Gerry McConnell, winemaking consultant Peter Gamble, winemaker Jean-Benoit Deslauriers and Martha Reynolds, who handles Marketing (quite admirably, I might add, based on the gorgeous booklets and tasting sheets we were given.)

Gerry McConnell outlined the history of the project and noted that although these are super-premium products that many Nova Scotians cannot afford, we should all be proud of the $3 million investment in the Nova Scotia wine industry and economy made through Benjamin Bridge. Benjamin Bridge products have garnered acclaim from international experts such as Tom Stevenson and are proof that sparkling wines can be done well in Nova Scotia.

This was my fourth time tasting Benjamin Bridge méthode classique wines. I wrote about their initial experimental wines in an Appellation America article back in 2008 and reviewed a 2004 Brut recently in Wine Access, plus I tried an earlier version a year ago, that was disgorged for a sampling.

However, this was the first time that I tasted them in context, as they brought along champagne to compare. The tasting wasn't totally "blind" — we knew which wines were the Benjamin Bridge bubblies and which was the champagne, but we didn't know what champagne it was. So how did the Benjamin Bridge wines measure up?

The Brut Reserve is very subtle and elegant in style, with lots of minerality, bready and lemon-citrus notes. It is bone-dry and an austere wine, perfect for lovers of that style. It is racy. Local writer Sean Wood described it as angular, as compared to the more round blanc de noir and champagne.

One quality advantage that Benjamin Bridge has over Champagne relates to yield — they are cropping less than one ton per acre, whereas six tons per acre is common in Champagne. This results in a higher extract level, which should indicate weight, flavour and complexity.

The Blanc De Noirs, made from 100% pinot noir, shows more forward red fruit and is fuller with more toasty notes. Deslauriers described the fruit as "blood orange," which is somewhere between red fruit and citrus and makes sense. You could definitely sense the structure provided by the pinot noir.

The champagne was in the elegant style with distinct toasty notes, green apple acidity and a clean, dry finish. Although an excellent, fine wine, it seemed more straightforward than the Benjamin Bridge wines. Mark DeWolf, sommelier and food and drink editor for Occasions Magazine, described the Brut as having more "nooks and crannies" than the champagne.

After tasting, the champagne was revealed to be a Louis Roederer 2004 Cristal, which retails for $266 in Nova Scotia. That's fairly elevated company for Benjamin Bridge. I'm pretty confident it deserves to be there.

A group of very different wines for different occasions, they were all excellent. I don’t like scoring wines unless I have to, but I expect that these would make low to mid 90s in most magazines.

If you are concerned about availability, keep in mind that Benjamin Bridge has continually increased planting — eight more acres will be planted in the next year, bringing the organically-farmed estate vineyards to 33 acres. They are also working with other suitable growers. Although there are only around 1200 bottles in this release, future releases will see over 10,000 bottles.

Is that enough to go around? We shall see.