End of An Era?

By Chadsey’s Vineyards are likely getting ripped up.  Is it possible to save them?

Managing the Applehouse Vineyard and King Eddie Vineyard at By Chadsey’s Cairns for the last five years was a dream come true.  Driving the tractor up and down those rows, we were making a part of history, carrying the tradition of a newly established wine region into the future. And we had an incredible opportunity to vint locally grown wines from mature grapevines.

But vineyard management is an expensive business. It requires significant cash flow. The Broken Stone Winery business plan was to fund the cash flow requirements of the vines at Chadsey’s by rapidly growing our winery. We would grow our sales into the new production level. It was an ambitious and exciting plan that would bootstrap our fledgeling business to the next level. 

Our plan was launched at just the wrong time — sales of our new wines began in 2020, and then the pandemic began.

Although Broken Stone Winery did grow rapidly, it didn’t grow enough. Business conditions were unpredictable during the pandemic and our attention was on survival and adaptation rather than growth.  At the end of each year, we found ourselves funding the operating shortfall from our own funds or borrowed funds. We were patient; we thought we could keep going while our business plan played out slower than we hoped. However, our resources aren’t endless. So by Fall 2023 we reluctantly informed Richard and Vida we needed to make a new plan and couldn’t continue to manage their vines.

By Chadsey’s Cairns was one of the pioneering wineries that spearheaded the creation of the Prince Edward County DVA (designated viticultural area). They were at the forefront of developing methods to bury and protect vines in the winter. However, the value of the vineyards goes beyond historical nostalgia. They are heritage vineyards.

By “heritage” we mean that the vineyards have value not just to the owners, but to the community. They are an asset that provides value like a beautiful forest or a pristine beach. They enable production of the locally grown fruit to support a healthy wine industry, which benefits all. 

The wine industry in the County bolsters the economy. It sparked the transformation of this sleepy backwater agricultural community to a thriving culinary and arts tourism destination. Vineyards also create direct local economic spinoffs for purchases of crop inputs, equipment, repairs, and labour. When a vineyard is returned to a hayfield, all that spinoff economic activity is destroyed. 

It will be a blow to the Prince Edward County appellation to lose all those acres of vines. To continue to develop as a wine region, the County needs to have more vines in the ground. The more vines the better. This allows for greater market presence and better efficiencies from scale.  Because so much time, capital, and effort go into developing a vineyard, it can’t be quickly replaced. 

Unfortunately, without a caretaker, all the vines at Chadsey’s must be torn out in the upcoming summer.  Richard and Vida, the visionary founders of By Chadsey’s Cairns just sold their last bottle of wine this summer. They retired from running the winery, and closed their tasting room. They have no desire to emerge from their golden years to resume farming grapes. There is really no option for them. If a vineyard is allowed to run feral even for a few months, it gets ugly quickly.

There is an outside chance we can save at least part of the vineyard. Some have suggested keeping it going with a Go-Fund-Me style campaign and raising the funds by selling wine futures. If that is of interest, send me an email to tim@brokenstone.ca or post in the comments below.

Miracles happen!

Sadly though, as of this writing the remaining days of the storied King Eddie and Applehouse vineyards at By Chadsey’s Cairns are numbered.