OUR HISTORY
Verger Hemmingford is the creative and innovative cidery recognized by all for the high quality of its ciders.
The estate has existed since 1994 and has become known as La Face Cachée de la Pomme, the birth place of ice cider in the world.
The founding couple are still present and deeply rooted in the local terroir of Quebec and contemporary life.
Verger Hemmingford grows its own apples, processes, cans and bottles on site.
LE CIDRE ciders are authentic Quebec products, from artisanal production, vegan,
without hops and gluten.
The apple at its peak!
THE FOUNDERS
François Pouliot acquired in 1994 a stone house dating from 1842. The old building in Hemmingford is surrounded by an old orchard. Then a young producer of cinema and music videos, François wanted to continue his work in the city while exploiting - just for fun - agricultural land. Initially, he wanted to produce wine ...
In collaboration with Christian Barthomeuf, the inventor of the ice cider recipe, François will instead participate in the elaboration and development of the first techniques recognized for producing ice cider in Quebec and around the world.
Visual artist Stéphanie Beaudoin met François in Montreal in 1998.
She immediately fell under the spell of man and… his cider!
Quickly, the couple abandoned the cultural environment of visual production to devote themselves entirely to the then embryonic project of the cidery.
Birth place of ice cider in the world
Inspired by the ice wine making process and the unique climate of Quebec, ice cider is born from the Quebec terroir. Extreme winter temperatures are required to obtain the concentration of sugars necessary for its realization.
François Pouliot participated and collaborated in developing the two processes now recognized by a reserved designation: the Protected Geographical Indication (IGP) for Quebec Ice Cider : cryoconcentration (juice freezes outside) and cryoextraction (the apple freezes on the 'tree). In both cases, it is a question of
concentrating the sugars of the apple by the natural cold of winter.
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Verger Hemmingford already enjoys an exceptional reputation in Quebec and elsewhere in the world. The founding couple have never stopped innovating. Over the past twenty years, they have received more than 150 awards and distinctions for the quality of their ciders, for innovation and for having helped to promote Quebec's culture and terroir internationally.
