Quebec wine - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

History

Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...

sailed the St. Lawrence River, he noted the presence of wild grapes (vitis riparia
Vitis riparia
Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as River Bank Grape or Frost Grape, is a native American climbing or trailing vine, widely distributed from Quebec to Texas, and Montana to New England. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper canopy of the tallest trees...

) on Île d'Orléans

Île d'Orléans

Île d'Orléans is located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The island was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage of French Canadians can trace ancestry to early residents of the island...

and for this reason named it Île de Bacchus, in honour of the Roman

Roman mythology

Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...

God of wine and drunkenness

Drunkenness

Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....

. In 1608, when Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

settled the site where Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

would later flourish, he planted French vines (vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....

) 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

Distilled beverage

A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...

(whisky

Whisky

Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...

, gin

Gin

Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...

, rum

Rum

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...

, 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 subsides. 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

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

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.

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

Société des alcools du Québec

The Société des alcools du Québec , often abbreviated and referred to as SAQ, is a provincial Crown corporation in Quebec.-Organization:...

).

With the diversification of Quebecers' alcohol consumption habits ultimately came a demand for local products. In the 1970s, some farmers began experimenting with hybrid varietals, 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 varietals of European vines do not survive. In the 1980s, Quebec wine growers started planting varietals 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. Quebec wine makers have 6 months to accomplish what in warmer wine regions takes 11 to 12 months to do.

Grape varietals

The grape varietals grown in Quebec, both white and red, all have common qualities needed by the harshness of the winter season:

resistance to winter temperatures
resistance to spring freezes
early ripening

The vine varietals that best meet these requirements are those of the Northern France, Germany, Quebec and North-Eastern United States. Some 40 varietals are grown in Quebec, with the most commonly planted being, for red wine, Sainte-Croix, Maréchal Foch

Marechal Foch

Marechal Foch , is an inter-specific hybrid red wine grape variety. It was named after the French marshal Ferdinand Foch , who played an important role in the negotiation of the armistice terms during the closing of the First World War. It was developed in Alsace, France by grape hybridizer...

, Frontenac, Sabrevois and De Chaunac

De Chaunac

De Chaunac is a French-American hybrid wine grape variety used to make red wines. It was developed by Albert Seibel circa 1860. It is also known as Seibel 9549 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and possibly Seibel 793...

, and for white wine, Vidal

Vidal Blanc

Vidal Blanc is an inter-specific hybrid variety of white wine grape, a cross of Ugni Blanc and Rayon d'Or . It manages to produce high sugar levels in cold climates while maintaining good acid levels....

, Seyval Blanc

Seyval Blanc

Seyval Blanc is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates.Seyval Blanc is grown mainly in England, and the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, as well as to a lesser extent in Canada...

, Vandal-Cliche and Geisenheim. In 2008, vines used in red wine made up 60% of the total planted area.

Wine regions

Quebec counts six regions where vines are cultivated. They are the Eastern Townships

Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...

, Montérégie

Montérégie

Montérégie is an administrative region in southwest Québec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Granby, Longueuil, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sorel-Tracy, and Vaudreuil-Dorion....

, Québec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Basses Laurentides

Laurentides (region)

The Laurentides is a region of Quebec. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the Laurentian mountains...

, Lanaudière

Lanaudière

Lanaudière is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population of 429,053 inhabitants.-Geography:...

, and Centre-du-Québec

Centre-du-Québec

Centre-du-Québec is a region of Quebec, Canada. The main centres are Drummondville, Victoriaville and Bécancour. It has a land area of 6,928.78 km² and a 2006 census population of 224,200 inhabitants.-Description:...

Wine styles

Quebec wine makers have developed a large array of products which are usually classified as dry wines, semi-dry wines, fortified wine

Fortified wine

Fortified wine is wine to which a distilled beverage has been added. Fortified wine is distinguished from spirits made from wine in that spirits are produced by means of distillation, while fortified wine is simply wine that has had a spirit added to it...

s, ice wine

Ice wine

Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more...

s, late harvest wine

Late harvest wine

Late harvest is a term applied to wines made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. Late harvest is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been naturally dehydrated while on the vine...

s, mistelles, prestige wines, vins doux, sparkling wine

Sparkling wine

Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy. The carbon dioxide may result from natural fermentation, either in a bottle, as with the méthode champenoise, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved , or as a result of carbon dioxide...

s and fruit wine

Fruit wine

Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients ; they may also have additional flavours taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any fermented alcoholic beverage except beer...

External links

In English

Web site of the Quebec Winegrowers Association (QWA)
"SAQ at a glance 80 Years... With Pleasure!", in the site of the Société des alcools du Québec