Top of her class
Gaspereau Vineyards' Gina Haverstock is quickly becoming one of the country's award-winning winemakers
It was the summer of 2000, and Gina Haverstock was at her grandmother's cottage near Malagash, N.S., studying to take the MCAT exam to gain entrance to medical school. She had just graduated with a science degree, majoring in biochemistry, from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, but after four years of being a student, "I just wanted to make some money," she says. The cottage was across from Jost Vineyards (www.jostwine.com), which happened to be hiring, so she applied.
Haverstock started working at the winery store that summer, setting in motion a path she would follow from the winery and back. Today she's the winemaker at Jost Vineyards-owned Gaspereau Vineyards near Wolfville, N.S. Originally from Port Hawkesbury, N.S., Haverstock, now 30, started dabbling in wine soon after being hired at Jost Vineyards winery boutique. Her interest grew through wine tastings conducted by Hans Christian Jost, the winery's owner and manager, and from helping out in the vineyard and winery. "I liked picking apart the wines," she says, "and learning about their flavours and aromas."
"I've had the opportunity to travel around the world. But I'm here for the long haul. I want to make a mark in Nova Scotia" — Gina Haverstock
In 2002 Haverstock completed the sommelier-certification program offered by the International Sommelier Guild. She then enrolled at Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) in St. Cath-arines, Ont., where she earned a second science degree in 2005, specializing in viticulture and oenology. She was the first Atlantic Canadian to take the CCOVI program. Within the last four years, the CCOVI has formed a partnership with the Nova Scotia Agriculture College in Truro and now has a joint program with Brock; students do the first two years of an agriculture or science program at the NSAC and finish the remaining part of the degree at Brock. "It's a wonderful affiliation," says Haverstock. "It makes it easier for Atlantic Canadians to stay on home turf a little longer before heading to Ontario."
An integral aspect of the Brock program is practical: students learn hands-on vineyard management and make wine at a pilot winery on-site. They must also complete three four-month work terms in a winery-and-vineyard setting. "I had my heart and head set on Germany, because the climate and winemaking there is so similar to Nova Scotia," recalls Haverstock, "I knew I would return to Nova Scotia to work, but I wanted to see more of the world first." So she asked Jost if he knew people in the wine world in Germany. Hailing from that country himself, he did: wine producer Georg Breuer at Rüdesheim am Rhein in the Rheingau, arguably the best Riesling terroir in the world. There was another Canadian connection; the winemaker there is Hermann Schmoranz, the brother of Walter Schmoranz from Pelee Island Winery in Ontario.
In 2004 Haverstock worked at Georg Breuer for eight months and did a shorter stint there the following year. After graduating in June of 2005, she spent time at Weingut Emmerich Knoll in the Wachau in Austria; Domaine Simon Bize et Fils in Savigny-les-Beaune in Burgundy, France; and Church Road Winery in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Even after that international exposure, she chose to return to Nova Scotia to work at Gaspereau Vineyards, a Jost venture. "I've had the opportunity to travel around the world," she says. "But I'm here for the long haul. I want to make a mark in Nova Scotia."
Gaspereau Vineyards is benefiting from Haverstock's experience. In her first vintage as winemaker, her wines won several medals at the 2007 All Canadian Wine Championships, Canada's largest and longest-running national competition, which was held in Windsor, Ont., in May. But Gaspereau really impressed the rest of the country by winning a silver in the premium Riesling class for its 2006 Riesling. This fiercely contested category featured some of Canada's most reputable and long-standing Riesling producers, making the medal all the more exciting for both Haverstock and for Atlantic Canadian wine.
Haverstock says that the awards, along with the fact that many people are choosing to eat and drink locally, is contributing to more exposure for Nova Scotian wines. "We have a wonderful industry here, and it's growing," she says. "As a new winemaker, I saw so much promise in growing grapes and making wine in Nova Scotia that I couldn't turn down the chance to have a hand in it." That's reassuring news, because Atlantic Canadians will be looking for more winning wines from Haverstock in the years to come.
— Craig Pinhey
