View of Vermont from Domaine Pinnacle’s orchards.
By MARIALISA CALTA
Published: November 11, 2007
ASK for a glass of “cidre” in Quebec and you will get not the unfermented, unfiltered juice of the apple that cider drinkers in the United States expect, but an alcoholic, sometimes sparkling beverage that can range from sweet to dry. Ask for cider in the Eastern Townships — a sprawling area east of Montreal and south of Quebec City — and you are likely to be served a flute of cidre de glace, or ice cider, an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting the juice of apples that have been left to freeze in the frigid Quebec winter. In local restaurants, it is offered, well chilled, with the cheese or dessert course.
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Christinne Muschi for The New York Times
Ice cider at Vignoble les Blancs Coteaux.
The New York Times
Although there are producers of ice cider outside of the Eastern Townships, there is a de facto “cider trail” concurrent with the well-marked Route des Vins (wine route), which extends from Bedford, Quebec (about 10 miles north of the Vermont border) on the west, north to Farnham and east to Lac-Brome. At least four ice cider makers and five vineyards are clustered around the towns of Dunham and Frelighsburg, just east of Bedford.
In the fall, the rolling two-lane roads of the area are lined with yellowing cornstalks, neatly planted rows of grapes and apple orchards advertising “auto-cueillette” (the French equivalent of pick your own). Lumbering farm vehicles occasionally slow travel to a crawl. Small villages — many with beckoning restaurants, boutiques, galleries and bed-and-breakfasts — make for lingering side trips.
Quebec's tradition of winemaking dates back to Samuel de Champlain's first forays down the St. Lawrence River 400 years ago, and hard farmhouse cider became commonplace among early settlers. But the history of ice cider is relatively new: it is a signature Quebecoise product developed in 1989, a spin-off from the ice wine production that took off in Ontario in the 1970s.
The man generally credited with the creation of cidre de glace is Christian Barthomeuf, the cider maker at Domaine Pinnacle and the owner of his own vineyard, Clos Saragnat, both in Frelighsburg. Tall, lean, with shaggy gray hair, Mr. Barthomeuf is a native of the Massif Central region of France. He planted the first vineyard in Dunham in the 1970s, and by the 1980s was making ice wine, the fermented juice of grapes left to freeze on the vine.
“One day, I was very depressed,” he said. “And I thought, why don't I try something new?”
Having made ice wine, he hit upon the idea of ice cider. “And it worked, and here we are,” he said.
In 2000, Mr. Barthomeuf began making ice cider at the new Domaine Pinnacle, which shares the southern slope of Pinnacle Mountain with Clos Saragnat.
In 2004, on 86 acres sold to him by his employer, Mr. Barthomeuf and a partner, Louise Dupuis, opened Clos Saragnat, where they concentrate on making ice wine and cider liqueurs, and a small amount of ice cider as well. The bottled products are sold from a small boutique in the monastic-looking stone and stucco winery built on the property.
Next door, on a hillside that commands sweeping views of Vermont, stands Domaine Pinnacle, which, with its 430 acres and 10 varieties of apple trees, claims to be the leading producer of ice cider. On a typical fall day, Domaine Pinnacle is busy with cyclists, bus groups and other tourists who stop for the free tasting of the ice ciders or a $10 “tasting plate” of local foie gras mousse, Quebec cheeses and apple tart.
Domaine Pinnacle produces ice cider, a reserve ice cider (made from a blend of rarer varieties), sparkling ice cider and Crème de Pommes, an ice cider cream liqueur.
The market for ice cider — sold as “ice apple wine” in the United States — is growing, says Charles Crawford, who started Pinnacle with his wife, Susan. In 2001, the entire market comprised “maybe 15,000 to 20,000 bottles,” he says. “It's up to half a million.”
Domaine Pinnacle's cider is available in 15 states across the border and in a number of other countries.
Every ice cider producer has a signature twist on the product, whether it be a special blend or process. For example, at the Vignoble les Blancs Coteaux in Dunham — a vineyard that also produces ice cider — Jacqueline Dubé said her tart L'Empire ice cider is made with 80 percent Empire apples, while Mr. Crawford said his blends include, among other varieties, Empires, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Spartans.
Generally, ice cider is made by allowing apples to freeze on the tree, or by picking them and allowing them to freeze outside. The frozen apples are pressed, and the juice is then left outside to freeze some more, to “concentrate flavors,” Mr. Crawford said. It is then fermented, using wine yeast, for eight to nine months.
At Domaine Pinnacle, the ice cider is blended after fermentation; other ice-cider makers blend it before. He said it takes 80 apples to make one 375-milliliter bottle. Ice ciders of the region typically sell for $20 to $25 a bottle, and contain 10 to 12 percent alcohol.
Mr. Crawford is a booster of all things artisan in the Eastern Townships, including competitors like Clos Saragnat and Val Caudalies, a 104-acre winery and orchard in Dunham that produces an ice cider called Réserve d'Éole. He proudly shows off the historic features of the area — churches, mills and museums — and guides a visitor to his favorite brew pub (Brasseurs & Frères in Dunham) and restaurants.
These include Le Nid de Poule in Dunham (which is also a bed-and-breakfast inn) and La Girondine in Frelighsburg (which also produces a foie gras mousse made with Domaine Pinnacle ice cider, confit and other artisan meat products). Both establishments serve a table champêtre, a multicourse meal made up almost exclusively of local products.
At Le P'tit Bacchus, a bistro in the center of Dunham that opened in April, the chef André Bernier offers cidre de glace on his menu of dessert wines, and also finds it useful in cooking, especially when making reductions for pheasant, duck and other game dishes.
“It is popular,” he says of the drink. “I think people are always interested in trying products of the region.”
He echoed a sentiment found on a plaque in a local ice wine vineyard: this product, it read, is “truly from here.”
VISITOR INFORMATION: THE ICE CIDER MAKERS
Clos Saragnat: 100, chemin Richford, Frelighsburg, Quebec; (450) 298-1444;
www.saragnat.com, also makes and sells ice wine and aperitifs. Open daily from late May to Thanksgiving, then weekends through December. Ice cider tastings are free; other products cost from 75 Canadian cents to 1.50 Canadian dollars a sample, 82 cents to $1.63 at $1.09 to the Canadian dollar.
Domaine Pinnacle: 150, chemin Richford, Frelighsburg; (450) 263-5835;
www.domainepinnacle.com. Open daily May through December; tastings are free.
Val Caudalies: 4921, rue Principale, Dunham; (450) 295-2333;
www.valcaudalies.com. Open Wednesday to Sunday from June to November. Free tastings.
Vignoble les Blancs Coteaux: 1046, route 202, Dunham; (450) 295-3503;
www.blancscoteaux.com. Also available: wine, ice wine and apple aperitifs. Open daily May through December, and on weekends January through April. Tastings are 50 Canadian cents a sample.
Where TO EAT AND SLEEP
Nid de Poule: 3260, 10ème Rang, Dunham; (450) 248-0009. A five-course dinner featuring local products costs 42.50 Canadian dollars (37.50 Canadian dollars for inn guests). No alcohol is served; bring your own. In March and April, the dining room is closed, but the sugarhouse is open for traditional Quebec meals, including pea soup, ham and maple pie. The inn has four rooms, two with private bath, for 75 to 115 Canadian dollars.
La Girondine: 104, route 237 Sud, Frelighsburg; (450) 298-5206;
www.lagirondine.ca. A four-course menu, 32 Canadian dollars; seven courses, 44. Meals feature foie gras along with rabbit and duck (among others raised on the property), sold in the adjoining shop. Bring your own alcohol.
Le P'tit Bacchus: 3809, rue Principale, Dunham; (450) 295-2875; entrees from 18 to 33 Canadian dollars.
