Although as elsewhere in Canada the wine trade is entirely monopolized by a provincial agency, Québec consumers nevertheless have access to an exceptionally broad choice of wines imported from around the world. The growing taste for good wines is thought by many to represent a return to ancestral roots. Even the cultivation of vineyards, which since the early days of the colony has been attempted by a stubborn few, without much success, is once again gaining popularity. And this despite the lack of support from government agencies which seem to dread local competition. To illustrate the marginal, even extreme climatic conditions of cultivation, as well as the inventiveness of the wine growers, one of the most successful operations, the Vignoble de l'Orpailleur, is examined here.