I wanted to title this post “How five women economists and one pug drove to the south of Quebec and bought $800 worth of local wine” but it appeared a tad too long. However, now the angle of this story should be more clear: girl (purchasing) power supports Quebec winemaking. All matters (women, Quebec and wine) are dear to my heart and, hopefully, yours as well.
The idea of this trip was born a few months ago at a wine tasting event some of us attended. The highlights (from what I have heard) were a hot chef and a very good orange wine from a local vineyard La Belle Alliance (the actual title is now explained). While the lead with the hot chef didn’t turn into a case for anyone (I am very sorry for professional jargon, this won’t happen again), the lead with the orange wine eventually did (into 2.5 cases, to be precise).
One Saturday morning in July, we packed our picnic blankets, a carefully curated picnic menu, and the pug in an unmemorable rental car and headed to Shefford in Eastern Townships, home to La Belle Alliance. The region is one of the cutest in Quebec, and the vineyard grounds are no exception. Upon arrival, we were welcomed by Brock, an economist/litigator (so far, everyone in this story is either an economist or a pug) turned winemaker, who runs this family enterprise with his life partner Carolyn.
La Belle Alliance is young. It produced its first wine in 2016 and now caries four varieties: red (L’amour), white (Toujours), orange (Entre) and rosé (Nous). Brock has told us that the quality of ingredients and the taste of the final product are the two things that guide their work - a philosophy I share and impose on others. The wines are not natural and, technically, not organic, although the interventions are minimal (the loss of grapes due to diseases at a small vineyard doesn’t justify the spraying).
The wines are good. I won’t pretend I know how to talk about wine, but you know good wine when you taste it. Entre and Nous were my personal favourites, and I would have gotten some L’amour too, but my season for reds starts in October. Wines are sold on the spot, and discounts are offered starting from half a case. We sealed our deal and had a picnic on the vineyard grounds.
PS: If you are in Montreal and would like to try the wines, Brock told us that Depanneur Peluso in Little Italy carries them.
Entre
Orange wine from Quebec
