The Pullman, the Hybrid & the Avant-Garde Hand
Pinard et Filles is a husband-and-wife natural winery on the west shore of Lac Memphrémagog in Quebec's Eastern Townships — a project built by two restaurateurs who sold everything they owned to plant 24 grape varieties by hand in a field outside Magog and prove that Quebec can make wine as exciting as anything in Paris or New York. Founded in 2011 by Frédéric Simon — a former sommelier who co-owned the Montreal restaurant Les Cons Servent and founded the natural wine import agency Insolite in 2005 — and Catherine Bélanger — who owned the iconic Montreal wine bar Le Pullman — the estate now spans 7.5 hectares across two sites: the home farm in Eastman, near Magog, and a second vineyard in Lanoraie, Lanaudière, on the sandy shores of the St. Lawrence River. The philosophy is radically zero-addition: no yeast additions, no inputs, no fining, no filtration, and no sulphur — or almost none. The work in the vineyard is done entirely by hand. The fermentations are spontaneous. The vinifications are natural. And every bottle carries a label designed by the renowned Quebec artist Marc Séguin — painter, novelist, filmmaker, and one of Canada's most celebrated contemporary artists. The portfolio is a constantly shifting gallery of cuvées that changes every year based on the vintage, the harvest, and the couple's restless creativity — from skin-fermented hybrid whites and carbonic maceration reds to amphora-aged field blends and ovni vinicole experiments like Sortir du cadre — a Cabernet Franc vinified as a white, of which only 99 bottles were produced. This is not a winery that repeats itself. As Catherine says: "If we were condemned to make the same cuvées year after year, we would be so bored we would quit."
The Pullman, the Import Agency & the Simon-Bélanger Hand
The story of Pinard et Filles begins in Montreal restaurants — with two people who spent years serving natural wine to customers who were not always ready for it. Frédéric Simon started his career at Chez Fabien in Vieux-Terrebonne, completed his sommelier training, and then opened the restaurant Utopie in Quebec City with chef Stéphane Modat — where he discovered natural wine and became obsessed. To deepen his knowledge, he took January vacations to the Languedoc, visiting vignerons in the cold and wind, building relationships that would later become his import portfolio. In 2005, he returned to Montreal and founded Insolite, an import agency dedicated exclusively to natural wine — one of the first in Quebec. At the same time, he co-founded the restaurant Les Cons Servent, creating a direct pipeline from producer to importer to table.
Catherine Bélanger was running Le Pullman — one of Montreal's first true wine bars — and sourcing her list from Frédéric's import agency. "The clientele wasn't ready for a wine bar, and they weren't ready for that kind of wine either," she recalls. "We have a habit of doing things a little before everyone else." Their professional relationship became a love affair, then a marriage, then a child — and with that child came a need for horizon and greenery. They were working until 4 a.m. every night, exhausted by the restaurant life, dreaming of something slower and more connected to the land.
They found a small corner of tranquility in Eastman, near Magog, on the west shore of Lac Memphrémagog. Frédéric, idealistic and romantic, immediately took root and refused to return to the city. On June 5, 2011, they planted their first vines — by hand, with no tractor, no machinery, just friends and determination. A few days later, they left for a month in Italy to celebrate their wedding. When they returned, the grass had grown so high that the vineyard had disappeared. "It was the biggest joke ever," Catherine remembers. Frédéric spent days clearing the mess with friends. But miraculously, a vineyard was born. They named it Pinard et Filles — "pinard" being old French slang for wine, and "filles" a nod to their daughters and to the feminine energy of the project. The original name was "Gentleman Farmer" — which tells you everything about Frédéric's romantic self-image.
"If we were condemned to make the same cuvées year after year, we would be so bored we would quit."
— Catherine Bélanger, Co-Founder & Vigneronne
Lac Memphrémagog, Lanoraie & the Nordic Hand
Lac Memphrémagog is a glacial lake straddling the Quebec-Vermont border — a long, narrow body of water surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains and the rolling hills of Quebec's Eastern Townships. The climate is continental and harsh: winters that can kill vines, springs with devastating frosts, and a growing season that is a race against time. But the lake's thermal mass moderates temperatures, and the clay-loam soils of the region provide a mineral backbone that gives the wines a distinctive acidic tension and aromatic intensity. For Pinard et Filles, the Townships are not merely a backdrop but a challenge and a declaration — a place where a couple from Montreal proved that vitis vinifera and cold-hardy hybrids can coexist in a climate that conventional wisdom said was impossible.
The home vineyard in Eastman sits on the west shore of the lake, where the estate's vitis vinifera varieties are planted: Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Riesling, Savagnin, Cabernet Franc, Dornfelder, and Pinot Meunier. These are the "noble" varieties that Frédéric insisted on planting from day one — despite the risk, despite the lower yields, despite the extra work required to protect them from winter kill. The soils are a mix of clay, loam, and glacial deposits, with good drainage and a mineral complexity that rewards patience. The vines are farmed entirely by hand, with no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilisers — just manual labour, observation, and a willingness to let the vintage dictate the wine.
The second site in Lanoraie, Lanaudière — on the sandy shores of the St. Lawrence River — is where the hybrid varieties thrive: Frontenac, La Crescent, Marquette, Petite Pearl, Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, Hibernal, Brianna, and Itasca. These cold-hardy grapes, developed in Minnesota and Wisconsin, can survive temperatures as low as -38°C and resist downy mildew, powdery mildew, and botrytis with relative ease. For years, Frédéric was dismissive of hybrids — his famous early quote was "Les hybrides, si c'était bon, on le saurait" ("If hybrids were good, we would know it"). But he discovered that the problem was not the grapes but the winemaking: Quebec vignerons had been trying to make Bordeaux imitations, adding sugar, enzymes, and commercial yeast to force the wines into a foreign shape. When he began harvesting later — sometimes as late as October 27 — and fermenting naturally, he found that hybrids could be honest, balanced, and delicious. The sandy soils of Lanoraie produce whites of striking clarity and reds of surprising depth. Together, the two sites give Pinard et Filles a range of expressions that no single vineyard could provide — the romantic vitis vinifera of the Townships and the pragmatic, frost-proof hybrids of the St. Lawrence.
Eastman is the home farm, the romantic core of the project — a small plot on the west shore of Lac Memphrémagog where Frédéric and Catherine planted their first vines in 2011 and where they live with their family. The vineyard is planted to vitis vinifera: Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay, Riesling, Savagnin, Cabernet Franc, Dornfelder, and Pinot Meunier — varieties that are risky in Quebec's climate but that Frédéric insisted on because, as he says, "if you eat a vitis vinifera grape and a rustic grape, you immediately see the difference in complexity." The soils are clay-loam over glacial deposits, with the lake providing a moderating effect that extends the growing season. The farming is entirely manual — no tractor, no chemicals, just hands and observation. The vines are young by European standards but already producing fruit of remarkable intensity. For the couple, Eastman is not just a vineyard; it is a home, a lifestyle, and a refusal to compromise on their vision of what Quebec wine can be.
Lanoraie is the second site, located in the Lanaudière region on the sandy shores of the St. Lawrence River — a warmer, more sheltered location where cold-hardy hybrid varieties thrive. This is where the Frontenac, La Crescent, Marquette, Petite Pearl, Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, Hibernal, Brianna, and Itasca are grown on sandy soils that produce wines of striking clarity and aromatic intensity. The site is farmed with the same manual, chemical-free approach as Eastman, but the varieties are different: these are grapes bred in Minnesota and Wisconsin to survive -38°C winters, to resist disease, and to ripen in short growing seasons. Frédéric's conversion to hybrids was gradual — he started as a sceptic, then discovered that late harvesting and natural fermentation could produce wines of genuine character. The sandy soils of Lanoraie give the white wines a saline, mineral edge and the reds a surprising depth. For Pinard et Filles, Lanoraie is the practical counterweight to Eastman's romanticism — a place where Quebec's native grape varieties can express their true nature without apology.
Lac Memphrémagog is a 31-mile glacial lake that straddles the Quebec-Vermont border, surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains and the rolling farmland of the Eastern Townships. The lake's thermal mass creates a microclimate that is slightly milder than the surrounding region, extending the growing season and protecting the vines from the earliest frosts. But the climate is still continental and challenging: winters are brutal, springs are unpredictable, and the growing season is short. For Pinard et Filles, the lake is both a blessing and a test — a beautiful, blue mirror that reflects the ambition of two city people who decided to farm by hand in one of Canada's most demanding wine regions. The glacial soils are thin and mineral-rich, forcing vines to struggle and concentrate their fruit. The result is wines with a distinctive acidic backbone and aromatic intensity that could only come from this place, at this latitude, farmed this way.
Pinard et Filles' farming philosophy is absolute: everything is done by hand, with no synthetic inputs, and with a focus on vine health and soil preservation. The vineyard is not certified organic — the couple prefers to spend their energy on practice rather than paperwork — but the standards are exacting. No pesticides, no herbicides, no synthetic fertilisers. The vines are tended manually: pruning, shoot positioning, leaf removal, and harvesting are all done by hand. The yields are kept low to concentrate flavour. And the harvest is often delayed well beyond the Quebec norm — sometimes until late October — to allow acidity to drop and phenolic maturity to develop. This is not industrial viticulture; it is artisanal, obsessive, and deeply personal. The result is fruit that carries the microbial and mineral signature of two distinct sites — the clay-loam of Memphrémagog and the sand of the St. Lawrence — and the hands that farmed them.
Zero Additions, Spontaneous Ferment & the Séguin Hand
Pinard et Filles' winemaking philosophy is distilled in four words: "Pas d'additions ni de soustractions" — No additions and no subtractions. This is not a slogan but a technical absolute that governs every decision in the cellar. The fermentations are spontaneous — initiated by the indigenous yeasts that live on the grape skins and in the vineyard environment. No commercial yeast is added. No enzymes. No tannins. No colour. No acid adjustments. The wines are bottled without fining, without filtration, and without the addition of sulphur — or with almost none. The result is a style that is deliberately unpolished, alive, and unpredictable — wines that carry the microbial fingerprint of the vintage, the site, and the moment they were bottled.
The approach is small-lot, vintage-variable, and creatively restless. Every year is a blank page: Frédéric and Catherine harvest, taste, and decide what they want to make — which means the cuvées change annually, with new names, new blends, and new techniques. Some wines are direct-pressed into stainless steel or old foudre. Others undergo extended skin contact — 100 days for the Frangine, 90 days for Wine Love Me. Some are carbonically macerated. Others are foot-trodden and fermented in amphora. The Frangin — the flagship red — is made from whole clusters infused in tank for two weeks with no punch-downs or pump-overs, then pressed to tank for finishing and a six-month élevage. The Autoportrait — a Gamay — is destemmed, crushed, and fermented in stainless steel with gentle punch-downs for 15 days, then aged 12 months in 228-litre barrels. The Chardonneret — an 85% Chardonnay, 15% Savagnin blend — is vinified together and aged 12 months on lees in 228-litre barrels. Every wine is different. Every wine is an experiment. And every wine is bottled with zero sulphur.
What emerges from this zero-addition, vintage-dictated approach is a portfolio that is both intellectually provocative and immediately pleasurable. The Jane Doe — a blend of all white grapes from the Lanoraie sandy vineyard — is direct-pressed, fermented and aged in 480-litre stainless steel barrels, producing a wine of saline clarity and mineral precision. The Frangine — 100% La Crescent, fermented and raised on skins for 100 days — is amber, tannic, and explosively aromatic, with lychee, rose, and ginger notes from its Muscat of Hamburg parentage. The Frangin — a blend of Marquette, Frontenac Noir, and Petite Pearl — is light, spicy, and savoury, with a whole-cluster freshness that belies its hybrid origins. The Royale — 100% Marquette — is Frédéric's greatest hybrid red, with Syrah-like spice and a structure that Jancis Robinson would recognise. And the Sortir du cadre — a Cabernet Franc vinified as a white, of which only 99 bottles were produced — is an ovni vinicole that captures the essence of Pinard et Filles: irreverent, singular, and impossible to replicate. This is not winemaking for consistency; it is winemaking for adventure, honesty, and the joy of not knowing exactly what will happen.
Zero Additions, Spontaneous Ferment & the No-Subtractions Covenant
The guiding principle of Pinard et Filles' cellar is that the grape already knows what it wants to become — the winemaker's job is to listen, protect, and get out of the way. The manual viticulture provides healthy, complex grapes from living soils teeming with indigenous yeast. The hand harvest ensures that only pristine fruit enters the press. The spontaneous fermentation — initiated by the vineyard's own microorganisms — captures the microbial soul of Lac Memphrémagog and the St. Lawrence. The absence of fining and filtration preserves the raw texture, the phenolic grip, and the living character that industrial processes would strip away. The absence of sulphur means that every wine is a true expression of its place and its season, uncorrected and unmasked. And the vintage-variable cuvées — changing names, blends, and techniques every year — reflect the project's core belief: that wine, like art, should never repeat itself. The cellar is not a factory but a studio — where Frédéric Simon, former sommelier and importer, and Catherine Bélanger, former wine bar owner, paint outside the lines, bottle the results raw, and dare you to drink something that is unmistakably, defiantly alive.
Frangin, Frangine, Jane Doe & the Ovni Hand
The Pinard et Filles portfolio is a rapidly shifting, vintage-dictated gallery of natural wines — each year a new set of cuvées, each cuvée a new experiment, each bottle a collaboration between the vineyard, the vintage, and the restless creativity of Frédéric and Catherine. The wines span skin-fermented hybrid whites, carbonic maceration reds, amphora-aged field blends, direct-pressed sandy-soil wines, and deliberately absurd experiments — all united by spontaneous fermentation, zero additions, no fining, no filtration, and minimal or zero sulphur. Production is tiny and highly allocated — some cuvées yield fewer than 100 bottles — and the wines circulate mainly within Quebec, with increasing distribution to Ontario, New York, and select international markets. The current portfolio represents a province-wide exploration of Quebec's viticultural frontier, from the vitis vinifera of the Eastern Townships to the cold-hardy hybrids of the St. Lawrence.
The Pullman, the Import Agency & the Avant-Garde Hand
Pinard et Filles is not merely a winery; it is a proof that two Montreal restaurateurs who sold everything they owned can plant 24 grape varieties by hand in a Quebec field and produce natural wines that are poured in the coolest wine bars of New York and Montreal. In an era when the Quebec wine industry was dominated by sugary, enzyme-driven, Bordeaux-imitating hybrids, Frédéric Simon and Catherine Bélanger demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from a former sommelier who refused to add "merde" to his wine, who harvests hybrids in late October when everyone else is done in September, and who bottles 99 bottles of a Cabernet Franc white because the story is too good to dilute. The same avant-garde spirit that defined Le Pullman — a wine bar before Montreal was ready for one — and Insolite — a natural wine import agency before Quebec was ready for one — now defines every bottle that bears the Pinard et Filles label. And every label, designed by Marc Séguin — one of Canada's most important contemporary artists, a painter and novelist whose work hangs in the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts — is a visual declaration that this wine is art, not commodity.
The legacy of Pinard et Filles is the legacy of the avant-garde hand in Canadian viticulture. Frédéric and Catherine are not typical Quebec winemakers: they did not inherit a family estate, they did not study at an agricultural college, and they did not build their brand on tasting-room tourism. They are city people who became farmers through love and stubbornness — a sommelier who imported natural wine before anyone in Quebec knew what it was, and a wine bar owner who served it to customers who weren't ready. Their journey from restaurant to vineyard is not a career change but a logical progression: as Frédéric says, "In everything we do, we always get closer to the product. At first we were interested in wine, then in the person who makes it, and at some point we wanted to make it ourselves." The completion of their vineyard in 2011 was not a retirement plan but a deepening of an existing obsession — the same obsession that now produces a skin-fermented La Crescent aged for 100 days and a Marquette red that rivals Syrah.
The future of the project is tied to the future of natural wine in cold-climate regions — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the most famous appellations but from the most committed rebels. As the Frangin continues to introduce drinkers to the possibilities of hybrid reds made with whole-cluster infusion, as the Frangine proves that 100 days of skin contact can transform a Minnesota hybrid into something aromatic and profound, as the Jane Doe demonstrates that sandy Quebec soils can produce whites of saline precision, and as the Sortir du cadre expands the definition of what a Cabernet Franc can be, Pinard et Filles remains what Frédéric and Catherine have always intended it to be: a zero-addition, hand-planted, vintage-variable, artist-labeled natural winery on the shores of Lac Memphrémagog — structured not by tradition or technology but by spontaneity, creativity, and the eternal reminder that if you are not ready for natural wine, Pinard et Filles was not made for you anyway. The story of this winery is the story of a couple who looked at a field of overgrown grass and saw a vineyard — and then spent years proving that Quebec's most exciting wines come from the people who were never supposed to make them.
"In everything we do, we always get closer to the product. At first we were interested in wine, then in the person who makes it, and at some point we wanted to make it ourselves."
— Frédéric Simon, Winemaker & Co-Founder