Quebec wine
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Quebec wine is wine made in the province of
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. The grape varieties grown in Quebec, both white and red, all have common qualities needed by the harshness of the winter season, including resistance to winter temperatures, resistance to spring freezes and being early ripening. Some 40 varieties are grown in Quebec, with the most commonly planted being Maréchal Foch, Frontenac,
De Chaunac De Chaunac is a French-American hybrid wine grape variety used to make red wines. It was developed by Albert Seibel c. 1860. It is also known as Seibel 9549 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and possibly Seibel 793. The grape was named after Adhemar ...
, Vidal and Seyval blanc. Quebec wine makers have developed a large array of products including dry, semi-dry and
fortified A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
wines (including Vin doux naturel styles). Additionally the region produces ice wines, late harvest wines, sparkling wines and
fruit wine Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients (other than grapes); they may also have additional flavors taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any alcohol ...
s. Quebec counts six regions where vines are cultivated. They are the
Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...
,
Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. The ...
,
Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
, Basses Laurentides, Lanaudière, and
Centre-du-Québec Centre-du-Québec (, ''Central Quebec'') is a region of Quebec, Canada. The main centres are Drummondville, Victoriaville, and Bécancour. It has a land area of and a 2016 Census population of 242,399 inhabitants. Description The Centre-du- ...
.


History

When French explorer
Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...
sailed the
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
, he noted the presence of wild grapes ('' Vitis riparia'') on Île d'Orléans and for this reason named it ''Île de Bacchus'', in honour of the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
God of wine and
drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main p ...
.QWA.
Quebec's wine history
", in the site ''Quebec Winegrowers Association'', retrieved September 25, 2008
In 1608, when
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
settled the site where
Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
would later flourish, he planted French vines (''
Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curre ...
'') and discovered that they did not resist the winter very well. Small productions were nonetheless tried here and there over the years and in the 18th century, the inhabitants of the French colony were in the habit of making wine out of the wild grapes and other fruits. While the production remained small, the import of wine bottles from France was quite important (775,166 bottles in 1739 for an above-15 population of only 24 260 persons). Following the conquest of French Canada by the British army in 1760, imports of French wine depleted quickly, as Great Britain's colonial policy favoured trade within the British Empire. Spirits ( whisky,
gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...
, rum, etc.) thus became the dominant type of alcohol being consumed by Quebecers and remained so until the late 19th century when trade relations between Canada and France were revived as a result of the British adoption of laissez faire. In 1864, the Quebec government tried to encourage wine production in the province through subsidies. Wild grapes were again tried as well as hybrid varieties from the United States. The emerging industry went through important difficulties, not the least of which was the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
trying to reduce the consumption of alcohol altogether and by the 1920s succeeding at prohibiting alcohol in the United States and all provinces of Canada. Despite the will of Quebecers, who voted at 81.1% against prohibition in the September 29, 1898 Canadian-wide referendum on the subject, the Parliament of Quebec enacted a law of total prohibition, which became effective on May 1, 1919. Shortly after, a Quebec-wide referendum was held in which Quebecers voted the exclusion of beer, wine, and cider from the prohibition list. Quebec remained the sole region of North America to escape total prohibition.SAQ.
80 Years... With Pleasure!
, on the site ''SAQ.com'', retrieved September 25, 2008


20th century to modern day

In 1921, an ''Alcoholic Beverages Act'' was passed and the ''Commission des liqueurs du Québec'' was established to conduct the trade of beer, wine and cider, and eventually spirits too. This state-owned corporation would then on exercise a legal monopoly on all distribution of alcohol in Quebec, which it still enjoys today (though the corporation now bears the name of
Société des alcools du Québec The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ; ) is a provincial Crown corporation and monopoly in Quebec responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages within the province. Organization The official legislation governing the SAQ's operations a ...
). With the diversification of Quebecers' alcohol consumption habits ultimately came a demand for local products. In the 1970s, some farmers began experimenting with hybrid varieties, both white and red. Early successes at developing quality products, prompted many others to follow and the 1980s and 1990s saw the burgeoning of numerous vineyards all over southern Quebec. In 1987, the first few Quebec wine growers formed an association. The successes of some of its members ultimately caught the attention of the French and in 1995, the ''Association des Vignerons du Québec'' and the ''Syndicat viticole des Graves et Graves supérieures'' of the Bordeaux region united in a professional partnership.


Climate and geography

The St. Lawrence river valley, south of the province, is a fertile region where wild grapes and other fruits grow naturally and abundantly. However, the four-month-long winter of this humid continental climate zone freezes the land deep enough that most varieties of European vines do not survive. In the 1980s, Quebec wine growers started planting varieties known for their resistance to below-zero temperatures and in certain cases made use of modern techniques to heat up the soil during the coldest days of winter.L'Orpailleur.
Growing, Soil & Climat
, in the site ''L'Orpailleur'', retrieved September 25, 2008
Quebec wine makers have 6 months to accomplish what in warmer wine regions takes 11 to 12 months to do.


Grape varieties

The vine varieties that seem to grow the best in Quebec are those of the Northern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and North-Eastern
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Some 40 varieties are grown in Quebec, with the most commonly planted being, for red wine, Sainte-Croix, Maréchal Foch, Frontenac, Sabrevois and
De Chaunac De Chaunac is a French-American hybrid wine grape variety used to make red wines. It was developed by Albert Seibel c. 1860. It is also known as Seibel 9549 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and possibly Seibel 793. The grape was named after Adhemar ...
, and for white wine, Vidal, Seyval blanc,
L'Acadie blanc L'Acadie blanc is a white Canadian wine grape variety that is a hybrid crossing of Cascade and Seyve-Villard 14-287. The grape was created in 1953 by grape breeder Ollie A. Bradt in Niagara, Ontario at the Vineland Horticultural Research Statio ...
, Vandal-Cliche and
Geisenheim Geisenheim is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany, and is known as ''Weinstadt'' (“Wine Town”), ''Schulstadt'' (“School Town”), ''Domstadt'' (“Cathedral Town”) and ''Lindenstad ...
. In 2008, vines used in red wine made up 60% of the total planted area.


See also

*
Beer in Quebec Quebec beer is the beer brewed in Quebec, Canada, often with ingredients from Quebec itself and generally following the recipes of the French, Belgian and British brewing traditions. Generally, the beers brewed in Quebec differ from those in the r ...
*
Quebec cider Quebec cider is crafted in the apple-producing regions of Montérégie, Eastern Townships, Chaudière-Appalaches, the Laurentides, Charlevoix and Capitale-Nationale, in Canada. The revival of cider is a relatively new phenomenon, since Quebec's alc ...
*
British Columbia wine British Columbia wine is Canadian wine produced in the province of British Columbia. Wines made from 100% British Columbia grapes can qualify for classification under one of British Columbia's two classification systems, depending on the variety, ...
*
Ontario wine Ontario wine is Canadian wine produced in the province of Ontario. The provinces has three official wine-growing region, the Niagara Peninsula, the north shore of Lake Erie, and Prince Edward County, although wineries also exist in other regions i ...
*
Nova Scotia wine Nova Scotia wine is Canadian wine produced in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia's wineries are primarily organized under the Wine Association of Nova Scotia, though not all wineries are members. The industry began in the late 1970 ...
* Cuisine of Quebec


References


Further reading

In French * Aloir-Roy, Andrée-Nathalie (2004). ''Rendement du Seyval blanc dans un vignoble du Québec suite à l'essai de protections hivernales de neige artificielle, de neige naturelle et de feuilles'', Sherbrooke: Département de géographie et télédétection ( U de S), 143 p. * SAQ (2002). ''Terroirs d'ici'', Montréal: Société des alcools du Québec, 203 p. * Aloir-Roy, Andrée-Nathalie et al. (2001). ''Variabilité des sols et stratégie d'échantillonnage dans les vignobles : cas du vignoble Sous les charmilles à Rock Forest, Québec'', Sherbrooke: Département de géographie et télédétection ( U de S), 85 p. * Le Cours, Rudy (1998). ''À la découverte des vins et des boissons artisanales du Québec : vins, cidres, hydromels, boissons de petits fruits et de sève d'érable'', Montréal: Éditions de l'Homme, 187 p. () * Dubois, Jean-Marie and Laurent Deshaies (1997). ''Guide des vignobles du Québec : sur la route des vins '', Sainte-Foy: PUL IG, 297 p. () * Béraud, Huguette and Thierry Debeur (1995). ''La route des vignobles du Québec'', Brossard: T. Debeur, 96 p. ({{ISBN, 2921377152)


External links

* Web site of th
Quebec Winegrowers Association
(QWA) *
SAQ at a glance 80 Years... With Pleasure!
, in the site of the ''Société des alcools du Québec'' Wine regions of Canada Economy of Quebec Cuisine of Quebec Culture of Quebec Alcohol in Quebec