The headline’s true! This coming fall, on November 1st the groundbreaking international RAW WINE Fair festival will host their first-ever event in Canada, bringing a one-day only exhibition of global natural winemakers to the food-obsessed, thoroughly Francophone city of Montréal. This all takes place on November 1st 2018, which means it will be only starting to get cold in Quebec, and not yet Fully Cold in Québec.
“A few Québec importers had contacted me asking us to take the fair to Montréal, but it wasn’t until I visited the city myself this spring that I realised just how much of a natural wine hotspot it is,” RAW WINE Fair founder Isabelle Legeron tells Sprudge. “It’s definitely up there in terms of ‘best city to drink natural wine in’, perhaps even better than London!”
A bold claim to be sure, but the city is miles ahead of nearly any other North American metropolis when it comes to its natural wine bars and restaurant lists, rallying around local natural wine leaders like Vanya Filipovic (Vin Papillon, Joe Beef) and importers Le Vins dans Les Vollles, to name just a few.
Presenting winemakers at the fair include Frank Cornelissen, Meinklang, Menti Giovani, Chateau Le Puy, Domaine Yves Duport, and more to be announced. This event comes just before RAW WINE Fair’s now annual events in New York City (November 4-5th) and Los Angeles (November 11th-12th). The Montréal event will also feature a coterie of satellite events and featured tastings at bars and restaurants across Canada, organized under the banner of #rawwineweek. “Given how excited the Montréal natural wine community is that RAW WINE is stopping by, #rawwineweek (Canada edition) looks set to be the perfect time to visit for sure,” says Legeron. “Hope Sprudgers will be there en masse!”
As this now provides a glorious excuse to visit Montreal in early November, we hope so too.
Follow RAW WINE Fair’s new Montreal page for updates. Visit the official RAW WINE Fair website for news on events worldwide, and follow RAW WINE World on Instagram.
Relive our favorite sips from the 2017 edition of RAW WINE Fair Los Angeles.