Bear River Vineyards — Attraction in Bear River

I’ve been to a lot of wine tasting tours before because we live out in Toronto near Niagara Falls, but this was the best tour I’ve ever had. The owner gave us the tour himself, and he walked us through all the steps. He wasn’t just the owner, he was also the one who maintained the vineyard and took care of all the plants. He actually knew everything about the vineyard, so the whole experience felt much more meaningful than the other ones we’ve been to.

The wine was really tasty. The girl who described the different wines was super friendly and really knew her stuff too. The wine we tried was very, very smooth. They also had different tasting flight options, like four 2-ounce pours for $16 or three 1-ounce pours for $10, which was nice.

What made it even cooler was that the place used to be a dairy farm. They’re now using the same structure and even some of the old equipment for making wine. The owner told us they do things the old-school way, something he called gravity farming, which was really interesting.

It was definitely worth the drive, even though it took us an hour and a half to get there. I don’t regret it at all. The place was super clean, which was kind of awesome!( How did they maintain the cleanness in the middle of the nature?!) And they had the best seating areas, facing the river and a hill and overlooking the vineyard. Plus, the grapes...

We stayed at Bear River Winery in August 2023. I hadn’t heard of Bear River until I saw the “Bear River” episode of “Still Standing” :) and decided to visit the town. Our stay at Bear River Winery was top notch. It has all the amenities you’ll need in your room; the grounds and the view are amazing; and I was extremely pleasantly surprised with the yummy wines! We had a tour of the winery and sampled a couple whites, a rosé, and a couple reds. During the sampling, the two that stood out the most for us were the Saignée Rosé and the Emboldened red. I took home bottles of all the wines we sampled to properly give them a go with a meal :). So far, we had the Emboldened with a steak supper. I. Absolutely. Loved. It. I was blown away because, truth be told, I have taken home bottles of red from many other NS winery tours and was disappointed when I got home and had the full experience with a meal (rather than just a sample). Bear River Winery has somehow mastered a red wine in our NS climate. I can’t wait to try all the rest with a meal. And I can’t wait to see what next years wines are like at Bear River Winery! See...

This place is fantastic. We're winos and had been to every winery in NS but this one. We booked a 2 night stay in July and arrived later on a hot day. The owners had the A/C running, a fridge fully stocked with water, coffee creamer, and everything to get us by, and a chilled bottle of wine. The room was lovely, the bed comfy, the bathroom and bedroom impeccably clean.

Our wine tasting was fantastic. The tour of the winery and vineyards were beautiful, especially how they converted an old cow barn into a mesmerizing wine making facility. The downstairs room is like stepping into the South of France. The owners were incredibly knowledgeable about their grapes and varietals, and we got an hour-long one-on-one tasting. And for such a small vineyard, the wine was easily some of the best in the province. I would say within our top 5!

Started our mornings off with coffee in the vineyards, straight out of a Tuscan landscape.

We will absolutely be back. Bear River, Annapolis Royal and Digby had so much more to offer than we could have imagined, and we totally plan to spend another weekend at Bear River Vineyards...