Will Québec Replace the
Maple Leaf with a Vine
Leaf?
For the 21st annual
meeting of the Jacques Cartier
Symposium,
named after the 16th-century French explorer of
Canada, Michel Labrecque, President of the
Montréal festival En
Lumière,
and University of Québec at Montréal professor
Jean-Pierre Lemasson gathered intellectuals,
professors and writers from both side of the
Atlantic, including André
Gayot (who indeed hails from both sides),
to express their views on all matters related
to gastronomy and, in particular, in relation
to the modern media.
These
luminaries assembled to answer questions such
as: “In a world saturated with information in
many different forms, how do articles, reviews,
and TV shows impact the evolution of our eating
habits? And to what extent do these
publications create or influence the trends
that will develop in the private and
professional kitchens?” Needless to say, the
resulting debates incited many different, if
not contradictory, responses.
However, this passionate confrontation was also
the occasion to enjoy the presentations of some
of the best restaurants of Quebec, such as
Toqué! of Montréal, L’Eau à la bouche of
Saint Adèle and
L’Initiale of Quebec City. At another
dinner in the
beautiful setting of the Manoir
Rouville-Campbell,
chefs demonstrated the high quality of the
local products. Attendees also met with the
honchos of the powerful Société des Alcools du
Québec (Québec Society of Spirits) in the
renovated Maison du Gouverneur (Governor’s
House), which was actually a jail where the
first insurgents against the British rule were
incarcerated.
|
Netting to protect the vineyards from
birds
|
The
Société des Alcools du Québec, known as SAQ, is one of the
oddities of Québec. This state-run entity holds
a monopoly on the importation, distribution and
sales of all alcoholic beverages in Québec,
including the bounty of the fast-growing
Canadian vineyards. SAQ, whose contribution to
Québec’s budget is imaginably substantial, does
a fine and respectable job in choosing and
selecting what the consumer will pour in his
glass, though citizens of Québec also have the
option of purchasing wine directly from
Canadian producers.
|
One of the wine shops operated
by
the Société des Alcools du
Québec
|
SAQ
makes an effort to respect and educate the
public with its stores—some the size of a
football field—where enormous selections of
wines are spread out in modern and attractive
displays. The vines, the origins and the best
matching foods are also documented and
explained. An automatic distributor, which is
activated by a credit card, pours in your glass
a sample of the wine of your choosing. Not
surprisingly, they won the first place in the
annual retail store competition in
Dallas.
To
experience Canada’s burgeoning wine culture
first-hand, travel along the border of Vermont,
where the Eastern Townships of Québec boast
gorgeous scenery scattered with historical
villages such as Sutton and Frelighsburg, which
was founded in 1790 by American loyalists. As
of today they have kept their cultural
diversity, but their rich past is not the sole
reason this area deserves a visit. The striking
novelty here is the vineyard. In an area
seemingly more fit for sleigh or skidoos rides,
there is, believe-it-or-not, a “wine road” that
meanders at the foot of the hills where vines
have been planted in the last twenty years. The
oldest winery of Québec was created less than
three decades ago, but wineries are now so
present in the contemporary panorama that one
wonders if the vine leaf will not supersede the
maple leaf as the Canadian emblem!
|
Statues in the vineyard at
Domaine des Côtes
d’Ardoise
|
We were
surprised by the wines we sampled at vineyard
Les Bromes (www.leoncourville.com), which
revives the rare Vidal vine; vineyard Domaine
des Côtes d’Ardoise (www.cotesdardoise.com); and in
local restaurants. Although they have no
history, they are much more than a northern
curiosity. In our opinion they can favorably
stand up against the international competition.
And with all the cold weather, there’s little
surprise that the Québec ice wines are a
success. However, the gold medal should be
justly attributed to an elixir that’s possibly
unique to Québec–the ice cider that is produced
by Domaine Pinnacle (cidredomainepinnacle.com). This delicate,
distinguished dessert drink has all the
seduction of ice wine plus a subtle hint of
apple.
The intellectuals, professors and writers who
assembled at the meeting of the Jacques Cartier
Symposium may have come to Montréal with the
expectation of finding mental stimulation, but
surely they also discovered many things to
please the palate.
|