A sense of terroir ...

We were an award winning wine bar and restaurant located at 43 Water Street in Windsor, Nova Scotia. We offered the broadest assortment of local, Nova Scotia wines of any wine bar in the prov­ince.  We also had some old world favou­rites and otherwise well-known wines from other parts of the world. You also found local beers and ciders to round out the experience. Exquisite, artisanal, locally-sourced food features accompanied your wines and completed your Nova Scotia gastro-oenological journey. A true sense of Nova Scotia terroir began with WINEGRUNT, on the Windsor strip!

​​WINEGRUNT? WINEGRUNT!

WINEGRUNT [wahyngruhnt] noun. English, twenty first-century, neologism, blend, portmanteau. 
  1. Twenty first-century slang term derived from English translation of Old French/Provençal sommelier, with which it shares a common etymology.
  2. A person who works in the local wine industry at the most basic and important level, gaining practical knowledge at the very roots of the industry.
​As many people know, the etymological origins of the term sommelier date back to Old French and Provençal references of the person in charge of the transportation of supplies, including wine, by pack animals (bêtes de somme).  Therefore, sommelier indicates a “pack animal driver, or herdsman.”  We realized that the humble beginnings of this now-elevated profession are pretty much parallel to that of a “wine grunt.”  Since the Oxford English Dictionary’s entries for “grunt” as both “mechanical power” and an “infantry man” are echoed in the Urban Dictionary (a popular online source of slang words and phrases), we can confidently claim that the term “grunt” is as comfortable in the refined and intellectual sphere on the one hand, as in the more down-to-earth, on the other. In both cases, the term implies a form of strength derived from practical knowledge and experiences in the trenches, as it were.  Since we chose to gain practical wine experience in Nova Scotia by working “in the trenches” before opening up our wine bar, we reckon WINEGRUNT reflects our desire to create an environment that combines the refined with the everyday in a manner that welcomes all and alienates none.  In that spirit (please note the intentional pun), WINEGRUNT expresses our passion for all things related to wine.  This includes all aspects of the divine elixir we offer to patrons with enthusiasm and practical knowledge as we blaze an oenological path through Nova Scotia, starting from Windsor.  Here, the intellectual and social share a table with the ludic and everyday.  For example, the honest pleasure of an excellent Carmenère paired with ratatouille, a Muscadet with oysters, … or even a debate over which local table wine would work best toward our creative re-elaboration of fortnightly happy hour offerings (aka cinq à sept), may very comfortably sit next to a discussion of the alchemical elements of a fourteenth-century Catalan treatise on wine production, a philosophical discussion of the impact of wine with issues concerning being and, of course, consciousness, … or the outcome of last night’s hockey game.  After all, we are located in Windsor, Nova Scotia, a town known as both “the Athens of Nova Scotia” and the “Birthplace of Hockey.”  Cheers!

Robert Buranello

Owner, manager, winegrunt, pastry and fresh pasta grunt.

Astrid Friedrich

Owner, manager, winegrunt, head kitchen grunt.