Grand Pré Wines: More than just a wine

Source: Exec Digital Canada

Date :3/31/2008 5:41:08 AM

Hanspeter Stutz came to Nova Scotia from Switzerland 14 years ago. He brought with him a fresh approach to wine producing and is reaping the rewards through his successful winery. Exec learns more Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by John Bilodeau

Hanspeter Stutz, the man behind Domaine de Grand Pré, is a very modest man, which, to me, is a little strange considering the acheivements he has enjoyed with his outstanding winery. Indeed, you would think that after being awarded numerous accolades including three gold medals and one bronze at the prestigious All Canadian Wine Championships, he would be screaming his successes from the rooftop. But he’s not; it isn’t Hanspeter’s way. For him the job is never finished and quality can always be improved.

So why has his Nova Scotia winery been such a success? He points out that its unique location in the province’s beautiful Annapolis Valley, an area renowned for its charm, natural beauty and, importantly, its cultural diversity.

“It is convenient because we are just an hour away from Halifax, one hour from the international airport, half a minute away from the highway, the same again from the historic Grand Pre site, which will soon become a UNESCO world heritage site, and we are just three minutes from Wolfville, a very active university town,” explains Srutz, who recognized the potential immediately after buying Domaine de Grand Pré 14 years ago.

According to Stutz, location is the most important thing to an operation like this, especially if you build a “tourism destination”, which is what Grand Pré has become. This is an important definition – he doesn’t refer to the business as a “winery”. Why? Well, while many businesses have found Nova Scotia’s central location between the West Coast and Europe has led to success in exporting products, certain rules and regulations prevent Stutz from doing the same, leading him to label the current system as “crazy”.

Unique strategy

So, Stutz has gone out and brought the world to him. From the very start, he has based the success of his business on attracting visitors to the winery, as well as wine lovers to his products. And boy have they flocked to see him. “The department of tourism have realised that we are promoting the region and we got a fantastic award in 2002 – a Tourism Service Award as the Best Tourism Service in the whole region,” adds Stutz.

His strategy is to offer only the highest quality experience. It is clear from the impression left on visitors that this strict attention to quality is paying dividends. “They come up and say ‘Wow!’ and that is just on walking up to the premises,” he says. “You ask me how I evaluate quality in a restaurant. It is two things: the bathroom and the salad. You might think that strange, but if the bathroom is clean, it is a reflection of the kitchen and the whole operation. If the salad is fresh and appealing, 95 percent of the rest of the food will be to the same excellent standard. You see what I mean?”

Keeping it special

“Quality is also important,” he adds, “when it comes to our wines, as proven by our numerous gold awards. We decided to keep the level of quality to the top end and not to touch the lower end wine. Some big guys in California have only a certain percentage top wine, the rest is medium or low end wine, and they make their money with those wines. We decided to keep the top level and really focus on our target market like the baby boomers, like the people who want to improve their culinary experience, like the people who want to come in and have a tour, have a discussion with our tour guides, sit down and have a lunch or dinner in our restaurant. That is our customer. Last year we had over 25,000 visitors to our winery and over 50 Cruise Ship Tours came to our location, most of them Americans. I tell you they are so impressed with what we do. It is not only the wine, it is not only the presentation, it is the landscape, it is the food and it is the whole customer experience.”

Domaine de Grand Pré takes great pride in making the finest Nova Scotia wines and has worked hard to develop special Nova Scotian wines that are unlike any others in the region and whose crisp flavors come from using only 100 percent grapes. “We decided to go with unique varieties that are suited to the Maritime region and grow speciality grapes that were developed for this climate and landscape,” says Stutz, who believes that new wine-producing areas in Nova Scotia should develop their own varieties, styles and vineyard practices that will thrive in the local soil and ocean ice climate. The results of this fresh approach are clear and wine lovers across Canada and around the world enjoy its wines.

Trends

“Our family strategy is successful,” continues Stutz, “but the problem here in North America is that there are too many rules and regulations around alcohol. The government or state think they have to be guarding for everyone. They don’t think as adults we are responsible enough to handle alcohol. This is so stupid: it is an old fashioned way of thinking and we need something better suited to the year 2008. This for me has been the toughest point in the last few years.” He is angry that it is often easier to export wines to Europe than it is to export them across Canada inter-provincial and wants reform.

Despite this challenge, Stutz sees great opportunity in the company and he is currently focusing on doing more with Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley apples, which he uses to create both a Pomme d’Or wine and a hard apple cider that carries the family name STUTZ.

“What I’m doing here is taking the apple as one of the oldest fruits and making some outstanding products. I see people in North American coming to apples and enjoying the drinks you can make from them. Americans and Canadians realize how unhealthily they live, eat and drink. There is a huge renaissance therefore on the apples side. I saw a study from California about the cider market in the States – the hard apple cider – which talks of an increase in the next ten years of 1,500 percent.

“Beer sales are also going down,” he adds. “People are drinking more healthily. Beer is sometimes too heavy and apple cider is the perfect drink. It is a natural, healthy drink with a 4.5 percent alcohol kick. That is the trend.”

Ideas aplenty

Innovative ideas are in abundance at Domaine de Grand Pré. In fact, Stutz’s email signature is: “Creativity is the production of a novel and useful idea in any domain.” Where does he find these ideas? He credits Nova Scotia’s fields, farms, and friendly people as the source: “In general as a producer, you have to open your eyes and ears and go around to learn what the trends are,” he says. “You have to go all over the world to learn this. And I love doing this. This is why we have contacts around the world. We just listen, understand the trends and make the right products.”

Stutz believes the trend towards wellness is one to watch in the future, although he was keen to point out exactly what he means by the term: “Wellness in general is the trend. It is not only health; it is the whole lifestyle – a nice dinner and a good wine. Wellness is a culture.”

So sure is he of this that he has started the slow food movement in Nova Scotia. Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

“I believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure. Slow Food is good, clean food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work,” explains Hanspeter.

As a result of this focus, trade is booming. “I never thought there would be so many opportunities. The opportunities in the high end are amazing and the people are just waiting for something like this. That is the beauty – the market is on our doorstep.”