Today@Dal

Published in Volume 20 No. 2 of Progress Magazine:

In an area in which core industries revolve around apples, grapes, and wine, and their related hospitality and tourism offshoots, having a talented wine-maker and fruit geneticist in the neighbourhood can be crucial. That’s what Wolfville has in the husband-and-wife team of Gina Haverstock and Sean Myles. “We believe that the long-term sustainability of agriculture in Nova Scotia relies on people like us,” says Myles. “We are incredibly excited about the future here, the future of agriculture, and particularly the future of wine.”

Together the talented duo is helping revolutionize Nova Scotia’s wine industry. Haverstock is a sommelier and wine-maker at Gaspereau Vineyards near Wolfville. Her unique approach to her craft has helped the company reach No. 16 on Wine Access magazine’s Best Wineries in Canada list. It’s a significant feat considering no other winery outside Ontario or British Columbia has achieved a ranking higher than 25. In fact, overall the ranking is a victory for the region, which brings recognition to the entire area.

Myles, on the other hand, is a renowned geneticist. His primary focus is to find more efficient ways to breed new grape varieties for the provincial wine industry and to provide growers with new grape cultivars that require less chemical input. He has done extensive work with grapes genetics and completed several years of postdoctoral research in the United States. Today he’s a Canada Research Chair in Agricultural Genetic Diversity in Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Agriculture and a researcher at the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre in Kentville.

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