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September 2003
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Did you know that there are vine growers in Quebec?
Lets make it clear from the start that we are not talking Bourgogne or Bordeaux
or even California wines. Nonetheless there is a region south east of Montreal
where the climate and the soil are appropriate to the growing of grapes. I had
the opportunity to visit that region last weekend and I want to share my experience
with you.
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We visited four vineyards. The first one, being the largest has the fanciest
equipment. From tractors that bury the plants each fall and unearth them each
spring to lab like installations inside. You might wonder how anyone can grow
grapes in a country as cold as Canada. First of all they select the hardiest
varieties, they also bury them each fall under four feet of dirt, and this particular
vineyard even has set up a system that warns them of unexpected late frosts.
In early spring, if the temperature drops unexpectedly after the plants have
been uncovered, workers are called back in (as this usually happens at night)
and they light up hundreds of small burners throughout the plantation to maintain
a temperature that is above freezing. Speaking of freezing one of the specialties
of this vineyard is ice wine. This is a very sweet and syrupy wine produced
from grapes that have frozen on the vine. It is somewhat similar to Sauternes
wines.
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You
work bent in half or crouched. I knew it is hard on the back but the challenge
of getting oneself back up after sitting in a trench is not an elegant one to
tackle.
The fourth vineyard was like dessert: the owner has transformed the gardens around
the house into an art gallery. A sculpture gallery! You have pieces of all kinds:
stone, wood, metal, clay and they are distributed among the trees and flowers
with the rows of vines as backdrop. It is truly spectacular!
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There is a fifth vineyard that some in our group got to visit which boasts a "calèche" ride through the vines and an interesting mini farm of exotic animals.
We went back to the first vineyard for supper. We were show how to "sabrer
le champagne". The word sabrer comes from the word "sabre" as this
is the tool used to open the bottle. The sabre is run a few times along the neck
of the bottle and then a sudden sharp hit to the swelling of the neck close to
the cork and the bottle literally breaks open. It is quite spectacular as the
cork flies out and the frothy liquid spills out. In this photo you can see that
the neck of the bottle has been cut off. Tradition has it that one must retrieve
the cork so don’t do this in a dark place…also aim away from fellow
revelers.
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The next day was rainy so we decided to look at the region from another angle.
We visited local artists. On select weekends like this one they open their studio
to the public. We saw beautiful painted silk, pottery, jewelry and paintings of
all styles. Many studios had lovely fall decorations such as this composition
of pumpkins under a tree.
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The region is also famous for it’s ducks: the "Lac brome ducks" and there is a gastronomical tour that one can take to get to taste all the local
specialties. We did not have time to go visit although we got to taste some of
their products. We did see some geese at one of the vineyards though and I could
not resist taking their picture.
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This weekend was a wonderful discovery for me. If you ever decide to try it out
just follow the signs:
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