Published Jun 09, 2025 • Last updated 6 minutes ago • 3 minute readWinemaker Travis McFarlane holds a bottle of Nadurra as he poses for a photo in Dartmouth on Friday. McFarlane, the owner of Parlan Wines in the Annapolis Valley, is also training to be a paramedic. Photo by Ryan Taplin /THE CHRONICLE HERALDRunning a winery is too much work to call it a hobby, so Travis McFarlane uses the term “passion project.”McFarlane, a fire department medical first responder currently in paramedic training, is also the owner of Parlan Family Vineyard, located in the peaceful Annapolis County community of Clarence. Land to grow grapes is much cheaper in Clarence than, for example, in the Gaspereau Valley, and McFarlane bought 40 acres in 2013 for $40,000.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle content“There was no vineyard on it, it was just land. We tile drained it, all that stuff. So, we have a 40-acre property, 10 acres cleared and prepped for planting, and we’ve got five acres under cultivation,” he said. “My dad and my mother and I planted the vineyard in 2015. We sold (grapes) to Benjamin Bridge for four years, then in 2020 started making our own stuff.”Parlan Family Vineyard is not certified organic “and won’t be,” but McFarlane uses no chemicals and believes in the low-intervention philosophy of making wine.It’s an ethos he was exposed to when he started in the Nova Scotia wine industry working with Bruce Ewert at L’ Acadie Vineyards in 2009, followed by stints at Blomidon Vineyard, Planters Ridge and Lightfoot and Wolfville. Winemaker Travis McFarlane poses for a photo with a couple of Nadurra bottles in Dartmouth on Friday. Photo by Ryan Taplin /THE CHRONICLE HERALDTrained in winemaking at Niagara College, and now with 23 years in the industry, McFarlane is also a sommelier.Article contentAt his vineyard, planted on the north mountain on southeast-facing slopes, he’s concentrating on three varieties of grapes for now.“It’s about a 50-50 split between l’Acadie Blanc and Seyval Blanc at the moment, then there’s a test row of la Crescent. That’s a variety that’s growing in popularity in some of the marginal states, Virginia grows a lot of la Crescent, and there’s some in Quebec as well. It’s sort of an unruly hybrid,” he said. “We have a climate where it’s been proven that varieties like l’Acadie and Seyval work really well. It’s not just here; Seyval is widely grown in England, makes great sparkling wine. So, I really wanted to look at different techniques to explore what they could do.”Parlan produced 200 cases of wine last year, is looking at probably 400 this year and is still also selling fruit to other wineries.More planting is planned.Article content“Our plan is to plant the rest of the 10 acres. I’d like to make a thousand cases, that’s where we’d max out. It’s always going to be small, something we can do ourselves,” said McFarlane. “It’s significantly warmer at that end of the valley than in the Gaspereau. The downside is that we’re not in a tourist spot, so our model is not to build a shrine for people to come to, it’s a working farm, a small winery. It’s just me, my mother and father and my two enslaved children, and that’s where it’s going to stay.”Parlan Family Vineyard currently makes three wines, a blend called Supernatural that’s a sparkling, a still blend and an orange wine (white wine made using a red wine process) made entirely from l’Acadie Blanc.Grapes are picked whole cluster by hand and stomped by foot in several stages.Read More Demand for Nova Scotia wine stored underwater far outstrips supply JOHN DeMONT: Blind pigs to corner stores: The raucous story of hooch in N.S. The bubbly side of U.S. tariffs in Nova Scotia The wines are available in Halifax at Ostrich Club, Lou Pecot and Mappatura Bistro (starting this week), in Liverpool at Main and Mersey, the Number Nine Café in Lunenburg, Juniper in Wolfville and August House in Windsor.McFarlane is trying to place his wines in restaurants where the staff and the clientele are really interested in wine. His products are only available at licensees and direct to consumers.McFarlane runs a simple business, with free shipping anywhere in mainland Nova Scotia.“Someone calls me, they want wine, I drop it off.”Article content
Firefighter/winemaker aims for high quality from low intervention
