L’Orpailleur is one of the founding vineyards in Québec, with vines first planted there in 1982. Charles-Henri de Coussergues, one of the founders of L’Orpailleur and president of Québec’s main winery association, will present the evolution of Québec viticulture over the last thirty years. Located in the beautiful valley of Dunham, l’Orpailleur took roots 30 years ago in one of Québec’s most magnificent and welcoming area. The vines were judiciously selected according to their early maturity, their resistance to diseases, and their organoleptic qualities. Three decades later, the vines have nicely matured and L’Orpailleurs stands as a benchmark in Quebec viticulture.

Photo: Vignoble de l’Orpailleur

After the visit of l’Orpailleur, Tastecampers will enjoy a grand tasting featuring producers of the Eastern Townships (as well as one outsider!). The following have already confirmed their participation and we are proud to have a strong lineup of producers for this grand tasting.

• L’Orpailleur
• Domaine Côte d’Ardoise
• Val Caudalies
• Domaine les Brome
• Vignoble Ste-Pétronille (making the trip all the way from Quebec City!)
• Vignoble de La Bauge
• Vignoble Gagliano

We will have lunch at the winery made from local products, sponsored by Tourism Eastern Townships and we thank them for their support.

• Vignoble Le Mernois
• Vignoble aux Pieds des Noyers
• Ferme Guy Rivest
• Vignoble Saint-Gabriel
• Vignoble CARONE Wines
• Les Ruchers du Troubadour

It will certainly offer many discoveries, even for locals as many of these wines are not widely available at the SAQ, our national wine distribution monopoly.

The lunch will be fully sponsored by the Conseil de développement bioalimentaire de Lanaudière, and will feature all Lanaudière products (and we thank them very much for it!) . We have seen the menu, but we’ll keep the surprise for those present. I can only assure you that it already looks mouth-watering and that it is something that everyone should look forward.

On Friday night, we will have at least six of Quebec’s leading breweries showcasing their products. So far, the following producers have confirmed their participation to this evening and more may add to the lineup during the weeks leading up to the event.

Source: (Flickr user sashafatcat)

• Unibroue, Chambly
• À l’abri de la tempête, Ïles de la Madeleine.
• Trou du Diable, Shawinigan
• Le Castor, Rigaud
• Le Naufrageur, Carleton (They may not be on site, but we’ll surely get to taste)
• Dieu du Ciel, Montréal
• Brasseurs sans gluten (Yes! Gluten-free beer that is actually good!), Montréal
• Brasserie Dunham
• Brasseur de Montréal

The tasting will be held at LoftC, in the heart of the Plateau Mont-Royal. While LoftC belongs to vegan restaurant Chuchai, we’ll have plenty of love for meat-lovers as the food part of the evening will be handled by Pas d’cochon dans mon salon. Pork and beer is usually a much appreciated combo!

We are thrilled to have the chance to put that many nice breweries in the same night and everything is in line for a memorable evening.

The price for the evening will be of 55$ (taxes and service included), which will be collected by the organizers on location. We would like to thank Tourism Montreal, Unibroue and Chuchai restaurant for their sponsorship of this evening!

The winery is constantly looking to push the limits of Quebec viticulture and is convinced that it is possible to produce quality red wine in Quebec, despite our harsh climate. They have planted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sangiovese and even Nebbiolo (!) with the firm conviction that the future of Quebec winemaking goes through quality wine made from vinifera grapes and that red wine will shine.

We will open Taste Camp on Friday with a tasting and lunch at Carone winery, along with other members of the Vignerons indépendants du Québec, one of the two local wine producers’ associations.

Shortly after having moved from France’s Massif Central in 1980, he planted one of the first vineyards in Québec, the Domaine Côtes d’Ardoise. Some wine and ice wine were made during this period, but it is really in the winter of 1989/1990 that Christian Barthomeuf put his mark in history as he decided to apply the same techniques that were used for ice wine to cider production. The first ice cider (then called Cidre Liquoreux, Cidre Fort or Cidre Fort Doux) was born. The ice cider appellation was only authorized in 1998, ten years after the creation of the product.

Christian Barthomeuf (Source: Bernard Brault – www.lapresse.ca)

In 1996, he then moved on as a consultant to the Pouvac orchard, which became La Face Cachée de la Pomme and helped create Neige and Frimas cuvées, which are now flagship products of ice cider producti0n. In 2000, he joined forces with Domaine Pinnacle which w2as met with a tremendous success on the international scene. While at the Domaine Pinnacle, he created the first sparkling ice cider in 2004.

In the meantime, in 2002, Christian Barthomeuf and Louise Dupuis bought an old orchard in Frelighsburg and Clos Saragnat was born. The goal of the domain was to produce high quality ice cider as well as some vin de paille and vin de glace in the most natural way possible. Clos Saragnat was planted with more than 15 varieties of historic and wild apples and in 2009 produced the first certified organic ice cider and the company got its organic certification in 2011.

The production of Clos Saragnat is small and highly regarded throughout Canada. He now produces two cuvées of ice cider (L’Original and Avalanche), two aperitive cider (L’apéro and L’amer), a sparkling cider (Des bulles, genre), a vin de paille (Paille…) and ice wine. In January 2008, he was awarded with the international cider industry’s highest award – the annual prize of Spain’s Fundación de la Sidra.

Clos Saragnat’s Cider Lineup (Photo: Clos Saragnat)

François Chartier, one of Québec’s leading wine writers, participated in a vertical tasting of the 20 vintages of ice cider, starting from the first ever vintage in 1990 and his tasting notes (here, in French) are well worth a read and show really well the evolution of this product from artisanal and confidential production to the product in which many Québécois are so proud of today.

More reading about Clos Saragnat can be found in the Globe and Mail, in Find, Eat, Drink as well as in The New York Times.

We will visit Clos Saragnat in the afternoon of Saturday, May 18.