Indulging In The Most Precious Secret Ingredient: Time - Vignoble Sugar Hill

I had such a great time on my first trip and was so impressed by the wines that I went back to Quebec for a second trip and discovered another fantastic producer who has been certified organic since 2021, growing a few select vinifera and several hybrids, and making some outstanding wines. They are Vignoble Sugar Hill and please do yourself a favor and try their wines. This is a second career for the owners, and their first career must have been successful, because the winemaking at Sugar Hill indulges in the one secret ingredient to making incredible wines that almost no one can afford: TIME.

They have a sparking vidal blanc for sale right now that spent 12 YEARS, not months, 12 YEARS on lees before disgorging… it is the best expression of Vidal Blanc I’ve ever tasted and one of the best sparkling wines I’ve ever had. They have a St Pepin that is not only the best St. Pepin I’ve ever had, but was so good that I almost smuggled a case across the border so that I could share it at the Embracing Hybrid Grapes conference… I didn’t but there’s still hope for those of you coming… the good folks at Sugar Hill maybe sending a representative with wine to the conference. Then there’s the Dolce Luna, their off dry wine that will convert you to off dry, made with a blend of hybrids….

We talk about all these and more, and we talk about them in English, Quebecois, and Spanish… because their vineyard manager and winemaker Jorge is Guatemalan, and one of members of the small team there, Ariane, acted as translator for us and gave her own input… so this is a fun and colorful conversation about cold climate viticulture and some of the most precision winemaking of some of the best examples of hybrid wines you’ll find anywhere.

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