A Couples’ Wine and Food Tour of Southern Québec

Québec’s Eastern Townships border the state of Vermont, comprise part of southeast Montréal and feature rolling countryside, lively small towns, parklands, farms and vineyards. These combine to make it popular for family travels, and even more so for couples who love good food and wine.

Québec is known for cheese producers and you can stop at several cheese farms to watch the process and sample the results. In Compton, visit Fromagerie La Station, a family-run organic farm and cheese producer, and look for roadside signs for others. La Rumeur Affamée in Sutton carries many cheeses and offers samples, as well.

In Stanstead, stop at Rucher Bernard Bee Bec, a local honey producer that also makes mead, a honey wine. Look for Le Cep D’Argent in Magog, a winery started by emigrants from the Champagne region of France. Domaine Pinnacle in Frelighsburg makes an excellent ice cider and, in Compton, Domaine Ives Hill makes black currant wines and liquors.

To satisfy a sweet tooth, you’ll find marmalade and jellies at the apple orchards at Verger le Gros Pierre and every kind of chocolate imaginable at the free Musée du Chocolat in Bromont.

Plan your trip for the first two weekends in September to find even more Québec wineries, as well as microbreweries, distilleries, cheese makers and food producers at Fête des Vendanges. More than 80 exhibitors from all over Québec gather at the free festival of food and drink.

You can ride off a few of the calories on the new bike trail, Véloroute Gourmande, through the Eastern Townships that’s dotted with food attractions.