| Pour,
pour the wine! Pour again and always, that I can forget the sadness of days... (Verse,
verse le vin ! verse encore et toujours, que je puisse oublier la tristesse des
jours...)
Émile Nelligan (La romance du vin -1899)
 •
La Romance du
vin Vignoble was founded in April 1999. In May of the same year 6,000
vines were transplanted. It was the beginning of the adventure...
•
Our vineyard is located
near the Ontarian border, exit 12 of highway 40, facing the Rigaud river near
Mount Rigaud, 220 meters, which draws up its mounds of moraine at two kilometres
to the North-West. Our land covers approximately 60 acres sloping at about 2 degrees
from the west to the east, 12 feet higher than the level of the Rigaud river;
better known under it's name of 'la Rivière à la Graisse'. This
river ends at a delta, formed by the Ottawa river and the Rigaud river and the
lake of Two-Mountains. We are within two kilometres from the Lake, south-east
of the Carillon Island. The
Soil •
The rather heavy
soil, mainly glacial deposits called 'Till', is composed of sandy clay sediments
of marine and lakeside origin. These
very fertile clays
are grey and red. Some may have a depth reaching from 18 to 25 meters in some
areas. The few rocks which were unearthed at the time of ploughing were composed
of granite of oval and polished forms. The drifts are those, which were transported
by the glaciers. Mount Rigaud, distant by two kilometres of our vineyard, is an
immense cluster of various matter left by the glaciers as they melted. During
their course, the glaciers eroded the rocks by levelling, striating and polishing
some of these surfaces. Ice
grapes Painted by Hélène
Léveillée
As the glaciers advanced, they tore off and carted fragments of rock, as well
as the greatest part of the movable grounds, that they then deposited on the way
when they stop and melt. One calls this type of glacial material 'till'. The till
is any sediment transported and deposited by a glacier and which generally is
not sorted by melting waters. The
Climate
•
Located at only two
kilometres south of lake of Two-Mountains, the vineyard profits from this vast
stretch of water to moderate the ambient air temperature. Indeed, since the dominant
winds coming from the west and from the north pass above that extensive length
of water, they warm up by taking a little heat, one or two degrees thus avoiding
the late frosts of spring in the beginning of May or the early autumnal frosts
of the end of September or at the beginning of October. The season is thus lengthened,
making it possible for the grapes to take a greater maturity and the wood of the
vines to ripen over a longer period. According to Statistics Canada, our area
profits from a period of sunshine varying from 2,900
to 3,100 Thermal Units, based on the growth of corn.
•
You can support your
local producer when you visit one of Quebec's vineyards! Come and visit us if
you can. It will be a pleasure for us to greet you and share with you our love
of winemaking and that of our soil.
For
any information, do not hesitate to contact us; Find
us : La
Romance du Vin is located in Rigaud, Quebec, Canada.
Address:
108 Chemin du Bas de la Rivière, Rigaud, QC J0P1P0
Tél
: (514) 996-7945 email:
alainbellemare@videotron.ca
Directions :
Highway 40 exit 12 (direction towards Ottawa if you come from the east
or Montreal area)
At the exit there is a stop, turn left at
the stop. You are on Principale street.
Before passing underneath Highway 40 turn right on Robert Lionel Séguin
(200 meters from highway's exit) and to go until the end of road; distance ½
km. At the stop to turn right
on Chemin du Bas de la Rivière and proceed to 108 (200 m)
When
you'll see this sign, you've found us... 
Sculpture:
Henri-Paul Bellemare Drawing
by: Hélène
Léveillée Directions
To
generate a Map
Where to find our wines:
La Maison des Vins au Marché des Saveurs,
Jean-Talon Market, in Montreal.
Summer time:
Thursday: Hudson Farmers Market.
Friday: Marché Champêtre de Rigaud.
Saturday: Finnegan's Market, à Hudson.
Sunday: Marché Duluth, Plateau-Mont-Royal.
The
romance of wine
It all mixes in a vivid glare of green gaiety.
O beautiful
evening of May! All birds in a chorus,
As well as hopes formerly in my heart,
Modulate their prelude to my open casement.
O
the beautiful evening of May! The merry evening of May!
An organ far from
bursts in a shivering threnody;
And the sunbeams, such as crimsons swords,
Break through the heart of day which dies fragrant. I
am merry! I am merry! In the crystal, which sings,
Pour, pour the wine! Pour
again and always,
That I can forget the sadness of days,
In the disdain
which I have of the malicious mob! I
am merry! I am merry! Long live the wine and Arts!...
I have a dream of also
writing famous verses,
Verses that will moan mournful melodies
Of autumn
winds at far passing into the mist.
It is the reign of bitter laughter and fury
To know yourself to be a poet
and the object of contempt,
To know yourself to have a heart and to be understood
Only by the moonlight and stormy evenings!
Women!
I drink to you who laugh at the path
Where the Ideal calls me by opening its
rosy arms;
I drink to you especially, men with sullen brow
Who look down
on my life and push back my hand! While
all sky blue is now starlit in it's glory,
And that an hymn breaks into with
gilded renewal,
Over the expiring day I thus did not shed tears,
I which
gropes along in my gloomy youthfulness! I
am merry! I am merry! Long live the evening of May!
I am madly merry, without
however being drunk!...
Would this be that I am finally happy of live;
Is finally my heart cured of having so loved? The
bells sang; the evening wind is scented...
And while the wine streams in a
joyful cascade,
I am so merry, so merry, in my ringing laughter,
O! So
merry, that I'm afraid to burst into sobs!
Translated
by Alain
Bellemare | La
Romance du Vin Tout
se mêle en un vif éclat de gaîté verte.
Ô
le beau soir de mai ! Tous les oiseaux en choeur,
Ainsi que les espoirs naguères
à mon coeur,
Modulent leur prélude à ma croisée
ouverte.
Ô le beau soir de mai ! le joyeux soir de mai !
Un orgue au loin éclate
en froides mélopées ;
Et les rayons, ainsi que de pourpres
épées,
Percent le coeur du jour qui se meurt parfumé.
Je suis gai ! je suis gai ! Dans le cristal qui chante,
Verse, verse le vin
! verse encore et toujours,
Que je puisse oublier la tristesse des jours,
Dans le dédain que j'ai de la foule méchante !
Je suis gai ! je suis gai ! Vive le vin et l'Art !...
J'ai le rêve
de faire aussi des vers célèbres,
Des vers qui gémiront
les musiques funèbres
Des vents d'automne au loin passant dans le
brouillard.
C'est le règne du rire et de la rage
De se savoir poète et
l'objet du mépris,
De se savoir un coeur et de n'être compris
Que par le clair de lune et les grands soirs d'orage !
Femmes ! je bois à vous qui riez du chemin
Où l'Idéal
m'appelle en ouvrant ses bras roses ;
Je bois à vous surtout, hommes
aux fronts moroses
Qui dédaignez ma vie et repoussez ma main !
Pendant que tout l'azur s'étoile dans la gloire,
Et qu'un hymne s'entonne
au renouveau doré,
Sur le jour expirant je n'ai donc pas pleuré,
Moi qui marche à tâtons dans ma jeunesse noire !
Je suis gai ! Je suis gai ! Vive le soir de mai !
Je suis follement gai,
sans être pourtant ivre !...
Serait-ce que je suis enfin heureux de
vivre ;
Enfin mon coeur est-il guéri d'avoir aimé ?
Les cloches ont chanté ; le vent du soir odore...
Et pendant que le
vin ruisselle à joyeux flots,
Je suis si gai, si gai, dans mon rire
sonore,
Oh ! si gai, que j'ai peur d'éclater en sanglots !
|
Émile
Nelligan (La romance du vin -1899) |
