This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
The first bottles of the 2021 Quebec vintage are starting to arrive on the shelves. Among these, consumers will find an appreciable offer of natural wines. There are many Quebec winegrowers who work with natural wine under organic management. But why ? This is the question we asked Véronique Hupin, from Vignoble Les Pervenches in Farnham, and Frédéric Paré, from Domaine des Feuxfoulets in Berthier-sur-Mer, two winegrowers who swear by nature.
What is a natural wine?
There are almost as many definitions of a natural wine as there are winegrowers. Basically, we are talking about a wine that is 100% grapes, without input and without sulphites.
“It’s not a trend. It is a movement. It’s the desire to drink a healthier, less processed product. It’s a return to the land”, declares Véronique Hupin with passion. She adds that, in her opinion, “in order for a wine to be considered natural, it must also be organic. The vine and the grapes must not have been in contact with chemical products”.
In addition, the fermentation of a natural wine is done on indigenous yeasts, that is to say yeasts naturally present on the skin of the grape.
It is all this that makes a natural wine taste different from that of a wine under conventional management, believes Mr.me Hupin.
“It is often more acidic, more expressive and very fruity”, explains Frédéric Paré, whose first three cuvées, L’Échouage, Bain de midnight and Coup de Nordet, were presented in the summer of 2021.
His enthusiasm for natural wine is palpable: “It all depends on the grapes we use, but also on the way we work with them in the cellar and the personality of the winemaker. What is the fun with natural wine, you really taste it all. »
Several factors to consider
Isn’t making a natural wine more difficult, due to the many vagaries of organic farming and the fact of working with a living product? In any case, not in Quebec.
Here, the winegrowers mainly work with hybrid grape varieties, such as Frontenac, Crescent, Radisson, Petite Perle and Marquette, which are much more resistant to vine diseases, those that require chemical treatment.
They also produce wines that are more acidic and lower in alcohol content. “The acidity protects the wine,” explains Frédéric Paré. They therefore do not need added sulfites to fight bacteria that may form during winemaking and bottling.
Then, you have to know where to plant your vines. Winegrowers who settle on soil rich in minerals and trace elements, such as we have in Quebec, do not need to enrich it. They thus reduce or even eliminate the quantity of inputs required.
Domaine des Feux foulets, owned by Frédéric Paré and Sarah Inkman, is located near the St. Lawrence River. It benefits from optimal aeration of the vines due to the tides. These produce movements of air masses, thus naturally protecting the grapes from the cold air accumulated at ground level and which could damage them.
There is also the fact of harvesting at temperatures that are not too high, which helps winegrowers to control the start of fermentation and thus allows them to easily produce a natural wine, admits Véronique Hupin. Indeed, the grape must needs to be at a precise temperature before starting its fermentation, and this is easier to achieve when the outside temperatures are mild.
Start (or restart) from zero
The absence of great winemaking traditions in Quebec also favors the emergence of natural wines.
Frédéric Paré is proof of this. In 2015, he had the advantage of starting his vineyard from scratch, settling on land that belonged to his grandfather and was once devoted to dairy production. “I knew my soil was not impregnated with chemicals and had not been depleted by years of field crops. »
In Les Pervenches, owners Véronique Hupin and Michaël Marler have been making wine since 2005, but the vineyard only switched over to natural wine in 2016. Everything was done step by step, slowly but surely. It must be said that at the time, “the consumers were not there”, recalls Mme Hupin, who, with her husband, were among the first to offer natural wines from Quebec to consumers.
“Those who get into nature are young winegrowers, says the winemaker. It is thanks to them that the industry benefits from a new lease of life. »
And they benefit from new assistance programs offered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ), including the one for conversion to organic farming, which provides for a maximum of $20,000 per business. “We have access to agronomists, oenologists and many other services for winegrowers,” adds Frédéric Paré.
Enough to ensure the production of these popular natural juices for quite a while!