Pour la seconde dégustation à la Cave St-Jacques nous avons eu le plaisir d’accueillir plusieurs blogueurs et blogueuses pour déguster quelques vins. Une fois n’est pas coutume l’honneur était au Québec, et  avec de magnifiques bouchées concoctées par notre traiteur Maître-&-chef nous nous sommes régaler des breuvages locaux.

Trois domaines étaient à l’honneur, Le Domaine du Ridge, Carone wines et Le Domaine des côtes d’Ardoise. Je vais donc m’empresser de vous décrire mon coup de cœur de chacun de ces vignobles…

CABERNET SEVERNYI 2009
Le Vignoble Carone, que j’ai eu le plaisir de visiter la semaine passée, est certainement un des domaines qui va amener la viticulture québécoise vers l’avant. La philosophie d’Anthony Carone est prometteuse, il favorise la qualité en essayant de diminuer ses rendements, il essaye d’utiliser des cépages européens (vinifiera) qui sont plus difficile à protéger du froid…. De plus il s’associe au docteur en œnologie Matteo Meglioli, une des personnes les plus sollicitées dans le domaine de l’œnologie au Québec. Avec tous ces efforts les cuvées d’Anthony Carone s’améliorent d’années en années et la qualité des vins qu’il produit en est le résultat. Ce Cabernet a une belle couleur rubis intense. Au nez des saveurs de fruits rouges écrasés avec des notes végétales se mêlent aux arômes des sous-bois de feuilles mortes. Une bouche très fraîche laissant entrevoir une belle évolution avec les années (vin québécois de garde?). En bouche des tannins soyeux lui offre une belle charpente et un coté rustique, les notes boisées s’accentuent et se dirigent vers quelque chose de plus toasté, plus fin. Ce vin est bien équilibré, l’acidité est présente mais balancée par une jolie rondeur ainsi qu’une structure tannique solide. Une finale agréablement boisée avec un zeste d’épices. Sympathique à l’apéritif avec un pâté et du saucisson (qu’est-ce que je suis français…) ce vin ravira sur du gibier en sauce ou même un magret de canard rôti.

Follow the link and check out the 40 minute mark

http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/des_kiwis_et_des_hommes/2011-2012/document.asp?idDoc=187057

The viticulture philosophy at CARONE has changed over the years. We were in the vineyards today, walking by early plantings of hybrids used in some of our lower priced wines, which we have been slowly replacing with modern and better quality vinifera grapes.

Phase 1: “Follow the herd to the watering hole”
The first phase was quite simple, we saw what everyone else was doing and tried to replicate that in the Lanaudière region. This involved obtaining grape cuttings of what was available at the time in the early 1990′s. At that time, French and American hybrids were planted mostly in the Eastern Townships area of Quebec. Seyval, Foch, Eona, Vidal varieties were among some of the most popular cultivars. Victor Dietrich, who provided my Dad with our original cuttings, was a great vignerons but had limited insight of Quebec wine trends. Little did we know when we planted that these grapes had fallen out of favour years before we had even decided to start our winery in Lanoraie.

Phase 2: The “grape to end all grape” in cold climate regions.
So those 1st phase vines were replaced by the second wave of hybrids – the “super-hardy”! A variety that promised to be everything the earlier hybrids were not – cold hardy, disease resistant, heavy producers, excellent wine quality, etc…. Professionals, grape breeders and nurserymen from as far away as Denmark, Sweden, Minnesota, Ukraine, Belarus all spoke the gospel of Minnesota grapes. The hype was astronomical. St. Croix, St. Pepin, Frontenac, Marquette and the thousands of ES-numbered nominations came to market quicker than the Crusades converted heathens (or the Canadian Food Inspection Agency could regulate). Plantings of these grape varieties not only thrived, they multiplied by the hundreds of thousands practically overnight. Storming the Quebec landscape, to the discontent of many established wineries in the Eastern Townships, vineyards and wineries were now possible in other regions. Every single rolling hill as far away as Gaspé could produce wines. It did not matter so much the quality. Hey “we can produce wines” where corn fields once ruled. We were all drunk with enthusiasm. All, except the customer. The wines produced from these grape varieties had teeth-shattering acidity, too much color, and hardly a trace of tannin. They tasted fruity, one-dimensional and over-the-top. So much for hype! At CARONE we looked to push the limits, we were determined to make quality red wine products, so we looked back to the traditional.

Phase 3: What is the rest of the “real” wine growing world doing and can we do it here?
Translation: Steer as far away from the current local thinking as possible.
There are currently a handful of very progressive thinking wineries that have undergone a dramatic “about-face” and taken on a huge risk hoping to reap huge gain. At CARONE we decided that we want to compete at an international level. We want to do so by comparing apples-to–apples, or rather grapes-to-grapes and, in turn, wine-to-wine. Small, discreet vinifera plantings have popped up, in as recent as the last 5 years, in very specific sites suited for cultivating internationally recognized varieties such as Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Cabernet Franc. The vines are still young, but among wine writers circles the shear effort of such winemakers has already gained much respect! Finally Quebec viticulture is starting to mature. Okay, it’s not a Burgundy Chardonnay or Pinot noir, but its Pinot noir for crying out loud, and in Quebec! That, on its own, deserves the respect of the wine world. Never mind that yields will be low each year and that Mother Nature likes to whack us at harvest.

Phase 4: The next step
What lies ahead, this of course is a mystery which requires some crystal ball-reading skills. Maybe Quebec can carve out a niche for itself on an international level with one specific grape or wine style? As Burgundy has done for centuries; a definite QC style on its own that can be compared to similarly produced wines/grapes from other countries. There is no doubt in my mind this is where the industry is headed. Those who disbelieve this, only need to look how other wine growing regions – Finger Lakes, PEC, Long Island, Maryland, Virginia, Niagara – evolved. It’s the nature of evolutionary progress.

Anthony Carone has taken another tack, working on more modern-styled wines with lots of oak aging. While decidedly more technical, they do offer those who appreciate this style of wine a convincing example of what can be done. Try the Bin 33 ($18.25, SAQ # 11004550).

Read the full article: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/food-wine/Canadian+wines+poised+contenders/5582496/story.html

Ses vins rouges sont souvent marqués par des élevages en fût de chêne que l’on ressent bien et qui donnent des airs bien caractéristiques du Nouveau-monde à ses vins.

Il est probablement le seul au Québec à produire un pinot noir. Pour l’instant. Ce cépage délicat est complexe à dompter même dans les régions françaises qui le cultivent depuis des siècles. Imaginez tout le bichonnage qu’il nécessite ici au Québec, rien que pour survivre. Une quantité de soins et de petites attentions qui expliquent en partie le prix, justifié, du Venice pinot noir 2009.

Justifié, car en plus d’avoir nécessité un travail hors norme, il est bon. Il faut noter que Carone a ajouté un faible pourcentage de cabernet severny, un cépage qu’il a dégoté en Russie et qui ajoute couleur et structure au pinot.

En résulte un pinot au nez exubérant de fruits rouges confits, d’épices, de café et de vanille, à la bouche ronde, aux saveurs assez fidèles à ce que notre nez a détecté. Les tanins sont soyeux, le vin est puissant pour un pinot, mais néanmoins équilibré et élégant.

Au moins aussi bon que bien des pinot noir du Nouveau-monde aussi cher, sinon plus.
À boire pour accompagner des plats de viandes grillées, et de bons champignons sautés.
Il n’est pas disponible dans toutes les SAQ, mais vous pouvez aussi passer au domaine pour y goûter et l’acheter!

Venice, Pinot noir 2009
Domaine Carone, Lanoraie, Québec
750 ml – 35,50 $
Code SAQ : 11345258
Site internet : www.carone.ca

Lire l’article : http://maverik.ca/article/bieres-vins-et-spiritueux/vin-rouge-carone-un-pinot-quebecois-qui-detonne

QC viticulture is based on a weak foundation. In order to be taken seriously, the growers have to address three fundamental errors in their business strategy.

1: To compete with other wine products within large distribution such as the SAQ, you need to grow the same varieties as the rest of the world. A Seyval wine is not a chardonnay. Hundreds of thousands of consumers know what chardonnay tastes like, but how many even know what Seyval is? The marketing deficiency is huge! growing un-recognized grapes such as hybrids will not address mass consumer market, but a small niche. So already with this, SAQ has an almost impossible task of “creating the demand” which spells millions of dollars in promotions and campaigning. Over time, maybe it can be done, but I would not hold my breath. Take Greek wines. Same problem. Unheard of grapes make for terrible SAQ volume sales.

2: Wineries that have entrenched themselves in tourism market too heavily. This is a huge problem right now. QC wine industry is made up of two types of wineries, much like Ontario. You have the producers who are genuinely in the business of making great wines and selling them through distribution. These wineries have and will continue to invest in quality from grape to glass. They are hands-on every step of the way. They do not invest in “chateau” buildings, but rather quality, from stainless tanks, vineyard equipment, human resources, etc…Anything to improve the quality of the grapes in the vineyard and in the winemaking in the chai. The second type is what I like to refer to as the “entertainment experience” winery. These are the elaborate “chateau” with facilities to host weddings, jazz parties, 5 a 7, etc… They sell “entertainment” and producing quality wines is not a priority as much as booking large harvest parties, wedding ceremonies or jazz evenings in the vineyard. Yet those same wineries, when agro-tourism season is slow or effected by slowdown in economy, turn to the SAQ and dump wine at their doorstep…

3: Promotional budgets: How much money has been invested in promoting QC products from the producers themselves? I feel it is not the sole obligation of the SAQ to handle this job. They are a distributor and will place a product on a shelf if the demand is high enough for it. Yet, I constantly see these QC products from small producers who have neither the interest or money to promote their wines. You can’t expect to have the SAQ do this. I know of Italian and french producers who visit QC every year to meet their fans, customers and the SAQ. They travel overseas frequently. How many QC wineries make the rounds? I bet very few.

4: RACJ not stifling growth, but wineries that rely on government subventions are in the way of real growth. When the large 5 wineries of QC complain, it usually means they are about to lose a government grant in the form of kick-backs or subventions. It has nothing to do with lack of SAQ support, but more so greed. If your company is founded on government money (and some have had support from QC for well over 30 years) do you not agree with me, that it is time for those wineries to start operating on their own accord, without government assistance?

Maybe its time the QC industry stopped complaining and got down to real honest work. PRODUCING OUTSTANDING WINES THAT CAN STAND IN THE COMPANY OF THE FINEST WINES OF THE WORLD. Without hand-outs. without SAQ assistance, and without the constant complaining… I know I am growing tired of this…I can just imagine how my customers must feel.

…Trites was in Magog for the Fete des Vendanges in September and tried lots of wines – she highlighted Anthony Carone’s Cabernet Severnyi 2008.

“It’s very fruit forward, but there’s a bit of mocha too. It was the official red wine served for Will and Kate!” said Trites. No word on what the glamorous royals thought of it on their Montreal visit. It’s $24.30 at the SAQ…

…Charest’s top Quebec tips include Anthony Carone – “he’s audacious. He’s the guy who tries the hardest to make reds”…

Full article is available here: http://www.winefox.ca/articles/vins-du-quebec/

At Carone, we are first and foremost, supporters of the new millennial of grape growing in this province. We support all growers and the industry as a whole and encourage its evolution be it in the vineyard, winemaking techniques, wine style, etc. The industry cannot continue down the path it has been on for the last 20 or so years. Doing so would only push our industry further behind all other Canadian wine regions.

I do not want to be lectured on our wine industry and its current prejudices or of the “low-quality” perception the average consumer has of its wines. Organizations can conduct all the marketing surveys they wish, but at the end of the day, the perception of some Quebec wines still remains the same – They are considered by many professionals as second rate to internationally produced wines. Why is that? Certainly this perception did not come from the new wineries popping up all over Quebec just releasing their wines. No, this stigma is as old as the Quebec wine industry itself, dating back more than 20 years ago.

At Carone, we have pushed hard and fast to change this perception for the benefit of the entire Quebec wine industry, regardless of where those wineries are located within the province. We did not focus on our promoting our own Lanaudière region, nor did we create a business strategy focused entirely on benefiting a few key players. Instead, we contributed to increasing the quality of all products by voluntarily sharing our knowledge and goodwill with all those that cared to listen. We have experimented with new winemaking techniques to improve the quality of our own hybrid wines and shared that information on public forums with anyone willing to listen.

We recognize that our industry is constantly looking to improve itself. And the next step in this progression is, we believe, the absolute necessity to work with pure vitis vinifera varieties.

If this means a complete course re-alignment for our industry, so be it. Ontario went through a vine rip out program that many thought would be the end of that Province’s industry. But it was not. It actually put Ontario on the global winemaking map! Planting vitis vinifera in Niagara saved a struggling industry that surely would have been limited to cottage country type artisinal wine production and not the large scale industrialization that it has become today.

A Quebec winemaking association recently stated that approximately 90% of Quebec wines are made from hybrids. In essence, 10% are from vitis vinifera. To us, this is a remarkable achievement in as little as 5 years time when nearly no wines were made from vitis vinifera. Imagine then the rapidity of the transformation that is upon us in the upcoming years. This is an exciting new revolution that is occurring right in front of our eyes.

My advice to new and veteran Quebec winemakers and grape growers is to embrace change, not fight or try to restrict it. Doing so would only add more names to any already exhaustive list of skeptics and naysayers…and we don’t need anymore of those now do we?