Quebec’s burgeoning wine industry is receiving a boost with the inauguration, Wednesday in Oka, of a research center dedicated to it.
It is on the site of old farm buildings of the La Cantina vineyard that the Center of Expertise in Viticulture and Oenology of Quebec was built. At a press conference, the owner of the estate emphasized that he had been a winemaker for 26 years.
“At the beginning, customers encouraged us. Now, I feel that they are having fun,” said Daniel Lalande in front of an audience of guests, including the MP for Mirabel, Sylvie D’Amours. The latter officially announced that its government had granted 1.4 million for the establishment of the center.
Quebec winegrowers have come a long way to reduce field losses and improve the taste of their drinks in the last 20 years. They can thank their own innovations and the work of researchers like those at the Mirabel Agri-Food Research Center (CRAM), which oversees the new center of expertise. In particular, they identified varieties of vines adapted to their terroir, developed winter protection such as geotextile fabrics and refined their winemaking processes.
This economic sector is also growing. Of the 180 vineyards in the province, around thirty are so new that they have not yet sold their first bottles, underlines Mélanie Gore, general director of the Conseil des vins du Québec. “And 50% of winegrowers want to expand the area they cultivate,” she adds.
But it is always possible to do better, especially if Quebec winegrowers want to exceed the 1% market share that they currently occupy in Quebec. Around ten CRAM researchers, armed with new premises and new equipment, will continue to collaborate directly with winegrowers and cider producers to step up applied research meeting their needs.
Frosts and diseases
One of the big challenges is facing the winter cold and spring frosts. Using special freezers, tests will be carried out on buds from various varieties of vines.
“We put the buds in small boxes and we are able to say, for each box, at what temperature the bud froze,” explains the general director of CRAM, Caroline Provost, during a visit to the premises. Thus, in the spring, if a frost at -2°C is forecast and the type of vine is resistant down to -2, the producer knows that it is necessary to prepare to counter the frost with methods such as wind turbines or lights. »
A few feet from the researcher, cuttings are covered with substances supposed to protect them from the cold. Will the product affect bud development? That’s what we’ll know soon.
Researchers will also test various imported technologies in the fields, such as heating wires. UV ray machines will be installed to check their effect on certain diseases.
“The UV rays will either stimulate the defense mechanisms of the plant, which will be better prepared to fight against diseases, or kill the disease or the fungus which causes the disease,” explains M.me Provost.
Taste tests
Fourteen grape varieties still little present in Quebec were recently planted and their grapes will be transformed into research wines, explains researcher Andréanne Hébert-Haché.
“We’re going to do tastings with the producers, so they can get an idea,” she says. Moreover, in the tasting room, red and green lights can be activated to standardize the color of the wines — red or white — so that the visual experience does not influence the taste evaluation.
Various methods related to wine making will also be tested to improve the quality of products, for example to reduce their acidity or their quantity of potassium.
“We want to try what we call carbonic maceration, with fixed temperatures. With our temperature-controlled rooms, we can maintain certain tanks at 21 degrees and others at 28 degrees,” says M enthusiastically.me Provost.
There are already very good wines in Quebec, assures Mme Provost, but research can allow them to overcome some problems and become even more competitive.