By Ashley Thompson
In Stewart Creaser’s eyes, the church that floated on water is now the building that keeps on giving.
Creaser, the co-owner of Avondale Sky Winery, made national headlines in May when he and his wife, Lorraine Vassalo, moved the deconsecrated St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, dating back to 1844, across the Minas Basin from Walton to their Avondale Cross Road winery in Newport Landing.
“This building is an amazing building. I’ve never been involved with a structure that gives things to you, and this building does that,” said Creaser, while admiring the ceiling of the church that has been converted into retail space at Avondale Sky.
“It’s given us tremendous goodwill in the community. It’s given us new friends. It’s given us amazing media coverage (and) we’ve had a number of people who have come to us and given us gifts to have here in the building.”
Creaser said they have received donations of church pews, a one-of-a-kind donation box and a self-playing piano from individuals, who admired the effort the couple put into rescuing the church, an endeavour involving months of preparation and plenty of postponed move dates when the water was too rough for a ferry to set sail towing the church.
The winery officially opened for Labour Day weekend. Creaser said locals are typically in awe of how the church has been transformed. However, the building continues to be an inviting place for people to congregate.
“We just feel privileged to be here. It’s such a special building. You just feel it when you’re in it. It’s just a great space,” he said.
“All of the folks from Walton who have come pretty much just smile and say, ‘this is great.’ ”
Once the church reached its foundation in Newport Landing, work was underway to restore the structure for retail use. The couple was able to reuse most of the original structure when the church was converted into a winery.
Weathered clapboard shingles were replaced with a fresh coat of cream-coloured paint that complements the building’s new red metal roof. The windows were washed, the ceiling scrubbed and energy efficient heating and cooling systems installed.
Vassalo said the church was more refreshed than renovated – and Avondale Sky’s visitors are typically tickled pink to learn this is the case.
“They are thrilled, absolutely thrilled. The smiles are brilliant; they’ll tell me which row they used to sit in and who was baptized here and who was married here.”
Vassalo said tourists from all over the world have dropped in to see the old church and taste the wine.
“We weren’t finished in the summer and a couple came and they really, really wanted to come in and I said, ‘Well, it’s a construction site.’ ”
The Ottawa couple, preparing for a move to New Zealand, insisted.
“As we stepped in the door, the gentleman said, ‘Look honey, this is where we signed our marriage certificate.’ They hadn’t even told me outside.”
Rescued church boosts wine sales
Vassalo said the church draws people to Avondale Sky, but the assortments of wine and delectable pairing treats keep them coming back.
“What’s really exciting for us is the amount of repeat customers we’ve had,” she said.
“We just feel privileged to be here. It’s such a special building. You just feel it when you’re in it. It’s just a great space.” - Stewart Creaser
“Our wines have a level of uniqueness because our winemaker, Ben Swetnam, has … free reign to do what he thinks is best to pull out the flavour that the soil in Avondale gives our wines,” she added, noting the gypsum in the subsoil often creates a citrus flavour.
Avondale Sky released three new wines the weekend of Dec. 3 – an ice wine, Pinnacle Hill, a select late harvest wine, Martock, and a barrel-aged L’Acadie dubbed Stubborn Head.
“The reason Stubborn Head is so significant to us is because the first piece of land outside of Walton Harbour is called Stubborn Head and the church was on the beach for so long we just thought it was a really appropriate name,” Vassalo joked.
Swetnam, a graduate of the Niagara College Winery and Viticulture program, said the soil in Avondale has the right mix of minerals for winemaker’s striving to produce world-class white wines.
“There’s no question that we’ve got the perfect climate for good whites and sparkling wines, and sweet wines in particular,” he said.
“Warmer regions would be jealous of our cool nights that maintain a nice acidity in the wines. You need to have good acidity if you want wines to be refreshing with food (and) if you want wines to be ageable.”
Vassalo said Avondale Sky, a winery with four employees in the off-season, is in the habit of generating smaller portions of many varieties of wine.
“There’s a better chance of everyone finding something they like,” she said.
“We’ve had two wines sel
