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 ripe pears harvested by hand and cold pressed. The high level of concentrated sugar is exclusively due to the natural cold of the Québec winter, which is called "cryoconcentration". The elaboration and the fermentation at low temperature is realized during several months to develop that bouquet of perfumes and unique and incomparable flavors.
In nose, it has seduced me with his delicate notes of syrup, pear and white flowers. In the mouth its body is of a silky smoothness, it is softly sweet, nothing cloying. It is round, balanced and elegant. A dessert wine mostly, but also an interesting option to drink with a foie gras, and goat or blue cheeses.
In addition to being an "original" product, it is "attractive" in appearance, "delicious" in essence and with a name impossible to forget. In Ancient Greece, Gaia was the mother goddess or personification of Earth, and what we now call Mother Nature. Thanks to its name, this pear ice wine is also a beautiful homage to the earth.


Vergers Philion Gaia Pear Icewine 2015
Product of Quebec - Canada
Alcohol: 11,5%
SAQ price: $ 19,95 (bottle of 200ml)

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