Vignoble Leblanc is a vineyard located in Saint Anicet. It originally started as a hobby for Jacques Leblanc, who wanted to find an agricultural pastime after his retirement from farming. When he passed away, his daughter, Caroline Leblanc, and son-in-law, Bernard Jalbert, took over the land. In 2016, they redid the barn to turn it into a winery, and they planted 6700 new grape vines in 2017. In 2020, they were given a permit to sell alcohol and have been producing and selling wine since.
This year, Vignoble Leblanc has undergone some big changes. For the past few months, they have been building an outside deck and installing new floors in the barn. Their goals with these renovations are to obtain a permit to allow customers to consume wine onsite, and to welcome more people, including small groups, to visit and drink their wines. Leblanc says, “We want the vineyard to become an agritourism location. We did this reno at the beginning of the [season] so we can profit from it this summer, but we don’t have our permit just yet.” They hope to be able to open this portion of the vineyard soon.
Harvest should be good
The expectation is that this year’s harvest will be a good one. “The temperature that we had meant that we had a lot less diseases this year. It was really good for the vineyard and ensures a good harvest in September and October,” says Leblanc. They’re also more experienced now and have really found their footing when it comes to production. “It’s our ninth year where we’re working hard for the vines, and we’re really starting to master more and more the process of it,” she says.
Leblanc’s personal favourite wine is the Vidal, which is their dry white wine. It’s made from grapes that are usually used for ice wines, but they use them to make their dry white, which has very little residual sugar.
Though they are not open to serve wine to the public just yet, guests are still welcome to visit the vineyard. “When we do a visit, we often explain the story of the vineyard and how to make the wine. We don’t explain the recipe, but we explain the process from how the grape goes from the field to the bottle,” Leblanc explains.
They have recently expanded their opening hours, and tours can also be booked outside of regular hours. To book a tour, guests can contact Vignoble Leblanc by phone (450-264-4026), email (info@vignoble-leblanc.ca), or Facebook (Vignoble Leblanc).
Leblanc hopes that the vineyard and the people they bring in will help keep her father’s legacy alive. “He really liked to give to people. When he did events, for him it was a way to communicate with the rest of the people, to hear the stories of the people around him.” Wine is a huge part of this because “Wine isn’t just alcohol. It’s also a story with a pretext of gathering.” Her hope is that Vignoble Leblanc becomes more than just a business – that it will become a part of people’s stories. “When we drink wine, we always drink it with someone. It’s an occasion to share with others,” she says.
This summer, Leblanc has already participated in the ElecTroChamps event with Le Mangeoir and had special promotions at the vineyard for the Saint-Jean holiday. She teases that there will be more programming this summer but cannot announce what that is just yet.
Leblanc wines can be purchased at the vineyard and at many distributors around the Valley and beyond. The full list is available at the website, vignoble-leblanc.ca. Follow the Vignoble Leblanc Facebook page to stay up to date.