Just outside Montreal is a unique region in the province of Quebec called the Eastern Townships. Located around 45 minutes southeast of Montreal, several hours from the city of Quebec, and bordering Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the Eastern Townships offer many activities for travelers to experience in any season.
The area is also known as Estrie, a toponym adopted in 1981. It is also identified as “Cantons-de-l’Est”, which was a name used by the first settlers of the area in the 16th century. The area was formed after the American Revolution, when the British gave loyalists fleeing the United States a safe haven. Today, the Eastern Townships area consists of the following sub-regions: Sherbrooke, Granby-Bromont, Brome-Missisquoi, Val Saint-François, Memphrémagog, Coaticook, Asbestos, Haut Saint-François, and Mégantic.
Kava Tours
The charm of the pastoral countryside, spattered with old villages, apple orchards, maple shacks, and vineyards, is a popular destination for New Englanders. For the wine and spirits enthusiast, there are many wineries and cider houses to visit. If you are visiting Montreal, it is well worth adding a day to visit the Eastern Townships. The ideal way to capture the area’s beauty and sights is to take a tour. Kava Tours is highly recommended. Kava offers both self-guided picnic lunch tours and private guided tours. Tour guide and owner Benoit Hébert leads you through the best of the three wine regions of the Eastern Townships: Dunham, the birthplace of Quebec’s wineries, Bromont, and Rougemont (Montérégie), known for its cider producers.
Vignoble Les Pervenches
A day visiting the wineries of the Eastern Townships should include a variety of wineries and cider producers. Our visit to the region began in the Brome-Missisquoi region at a boutique family-run winery called Vignoble Les Pervenches. Owners Michael Marler and Veronique Hupin take pride in their 3-hectare vineyard, which they farm using both organic and biodynamic principles. They are certified organic by Écocert.
Veronique is very modest about showing off the excellent selection of wines on offer. Michael went to Mike McGill University, majoring in farming. While at the University, he went abroad to study agriculture at the Superior Purpan School of Agriculture in the South of France. It was here that Michael’s passion for wine developed. You might say Veronique is the marketing and finance part of this team, as she got her MBA at HEC Montreal and then worked at Nortel before the couple started their winery. Although Les Pervenches makes both reds and whites, the primary focus is on Chardonnay. They are one of the only producers utilizing this varietal in the Eastern Townships.
Vignoble Domaine Des Côtes d’Arboise
Our second stop was at the oldest winery in the Eastern Townships, Vignoble Domaine des Côtes d’Arboise in the Dunham region. Established in 1980, this is the perfect spot for a picnic because not only are you in the vineyards, you are also in a sculpture garden. This picturesque spot is an ideal setting for enjoying the wines, basking in the sun, and picnicking. The winery’s portfolio includes hybrid and vinifera wines, as well as cider.
Union Libre
Moving on, our adventure took us to Union Libre in Dunham. The cider and wine producing facility was established in 2010 and encompasses a 30-hectare estate. Cider is very popular in Canada and is made either by heating or by freezing, hence the names fire cider and ice cider. The fire cider uses Empire and Spartan apples. Sparkling cider uses MacIntosh, Cortland, Empire, and Spartan apples. Ice wine is made from Red Delicious apples. A tour at Union Libre includes making a cider cocktail known as the Mount Royale Cocktail.
Domaine Pinnacle
Our next stop was Domaine Pinnacle, a family-owned cidery and orchard. This property, purchased in 2000, abuts the United States and affords a magnificent view. Domaine Pinnacle is considered the highest elevation orchard. The property encompasses 400 acres, of which about 35% is planted. The orchards lie on the south-facing slopes of Mount Pinnacle. The cidery uses all those apples that drop from the trees.
Domaine Pinnacle is known for its Ice Apple Wine, which is considered one of its signature products. It also creates sparkling cider, still cider, and sparkling ice cider. Unique to the cidery is Domaine Pinnacle Reserve 1859, an ice cider blended with apple brandy and slowly aged in Appalachian oak barrels. You have to wonder whether the reference to 1859 marks the year builders constructed the original farmhouse, complete with its unique octagonal rooftop turret, which, rumor has it, served as a lookout toward the Vermont border, sheltered freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, and later hosted bootleggers during Prohibition.
Domaine Pinnacle also has a maple grove and produces its version of Quebec’s Coureur des
Bois, a maple liqueur that combines maple syrup with ice cider and apple brandy. Although unusual, it makes the perfect dessert wine.
Auberge & Spa West Brome
Our final stop was the Auberge & Spa West Brome. This is a charming countryside Inn with a marvelous restaurant (The Bistro) and spa just north of the village of West Brome and close to Brome Lake, where there are many golf courses. The rooms feature fireplaces and terraces that afford a panoramic view of the surrounding rolling hills.
Chef Ugo-Vincent Mariotti prepares a bistro-style farm-to-table cuisine utilizing the freshest ingredients he finds in his garden. The food is delicious and accompanied by local wine; it is a perfect and relaxing way to end a day of wine tasting in the region.
The beauty of the Eastern Townships will enthrall you and give you a different perspective on Canadian wine and cider.
