Written by Delia Oltean –
The ship is just about to leave for a long trip… From France to the New World, the journey can take up to several months. On board, in addition to the crew, is an essential commodity, alcohol. Barrels of wine will make the same long journey as the crew, for the purpose of satisfying the thirst of the inhabitants of the Nouvelle-France.
In the cellar of the Hurtubise House, four barrels of wine and port were found, as well as a rack for wine bottles. Although it is probably impossible to know with certainty the use that the family made of it or even the origin of all these articles related to alcohol, it does not prevent the curiosity relative to the place of alcohol in the colony of the Nouvelle-France from being piqued.
The history goes back to Samuel de Champlain… Already at that time, the French had the idea of importing European vines (Lafrance, 1992). Some attempts to make wine had already been made with the wild vines of the Nouvelle-France, only the wine was black and very bitter making it completely undrinkable. The imported vines were also a failure since the wine always remained bitter. The colonists had to realize that importing wine from France was the best solution to the problem of undrinkable alcohol (Allaire, 2009).
If for some, the consumption of wine was frequent at the time (Allaire, 2009), others are of the opposite opinion (Ferland, 2004). This duality is explained in the statistics found in the inventories of the merchants of the time. It even seems that “some years, the quantities of imported alcohol were so important that this type of merchandise constituted the most revenue in taxes at the port of Quebec” (Ferland, 2004). However, the importation of wine is comparable to an art, so much so that one must calculate not to let the wine alter and become bitter during transportation. Despite the debate, it seems that another alcohol such as beer was also very popular with the population (Allaire, 2009).
With numerous privateer attacks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Seven Years’ War, alcohol took longer to reach the population. Sometimes the boats never came! Prices were rising and the way to solve this problem was to turn to another source of alcohol that could be produced directly in Nouvelle-France. Apple trees grow easily on the land and besides, the Hurtubise family had already started growing apples and owned a wine press (Stewart, Robichaud, 2001, p. 54), so why not make cider (Ferland, 2004)?
Slowly, the production of cider and beer will take over in Nouvelle-France, although the importation of certain styles of wine such as port will be easier under the English regime (Lafrance, 1992).
Sources:
- Allaire, B. (2009). Le vin en Nouvelle-France. Vin Québec. https://vinquebec.com/node/6289
- Ferland, C. (2004). L’ivresse de découvrir. Au fil des événements. https://archives.nouvelles.ulaval.ca/Au.fil.des.evenements/2004/01.15/ferland.html
- Lafrance, M. (1992). De la qualité des vins en Nouvelle-France. Cap-aux-Diamants. https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/cd/1992-n28-cd1039702/7981ac.pdf
- Stewart, A. Robichaud, L. (2001). Étude patrimoniale de la maison des Hurtubise. Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française et Ministère de la Culture et des Communications.