GAIA: Delicious and elegant pear elixir, made in Quebec
By Marina La Forgia As far as my pleasure of tasting is concerned, since I live in Quebec I have the fortune to surprise myself and learn new aromas, flavors, products, regions, passionate producers, wine histories.... I have learnt a lot, and about wines from all over the world. This insatiable thirst for knowledge and novelty has made me discover a new elixir, a pear ice wine made in Hemmingford, just 30 minutes from my home: Gaia by Vergers Philion. Its owner, Hubert Philion, fifth generation of this agricultural family, has been working since 2004 on the prestigious Friga ice cider and is currently adding to his portfolio this sublime pear wine with the absolute conviction that the mix of soil of gravel and rock terroir and the microclimate influenced by The Adirondacks, the Saint Laurent river, the Richelieu river and Lake Champlain offer the ideal conditions for cultivation and optimum ripening of fruits such as pear and apple. Gaia is a pear ice wine made only from rip...