In 1986, after 26 years of operating a dairy farm, Alcide and Ghislaine, the parents, decide to embark on a new adventure: planting a vineyard and producing wine. With the help of brothers Alain and Jacques Brault, they plant an initial plot of 5,000 Seyval Blanc plants. In 1989, 1,000 Chancellor plants are added. The winemaking is initially overseen by renowned sommelier Alain Bélanger from 1989 to 1992 and later by Luc Rolland, an SAQ employee, from 1992 to 1996. When the first customers taste the 1990 vintage, they immediately notice wild boars in the backyard. The vineyard quickly becomes a tourist destination with its unique personality, wine, and exotic animals.

In 1996, Simon, the youngest son of Alcide and Ghislaine, a graduate in Rural Engineering from ITA Saint-Hyacinthe, joins the founders, bringing youth, dynamism, and expertise.

As a self-taught and passionate researcher, Simon co-founds the «Club de recherche et développement en Vitiviniculture du Québec» in 1997 with three other winemakers and a nurseryman. They visit various northern wine regions worldwide (British Columbia, Minnesota, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, Languedoc-Roussillon, Côte du Rhône, and the Finger Lakes) on behalf of the Quebec Winemakers Association (AVQ) to catalog new grape varieties or winemaking methods that could be interesting in Quebec. His team is responsible for introducing several grape varieties to Canada, including Frontenac, which is now one of the most cultivated in Quebec.

Simon is elected to the board of directors of the Quebec Winemakers Association in 1998, which later becomes CVQ, Conseil des Vins du Québec. He serves for twenty years, including the last four as the first vice-president. Alongside fellow winemakers, he endeavors to develop and grow this flourishing industry through viticultural research, commercial missions, interventions with government decision-makers, and various Quebec institutions.

Simon also significantly contributes to the establishment of the first signposted wine route in Quebec, that of Brome-Missisquoi in 2002. This concept has since been adopted in different sectors of Quebec, each with its identity, local flavors, and landscapes, much to the delight of wine enthusiasts eager to discover local products.

The transition to organic wine production began in 2016 with the planting of two new Frontenac Blanc vineyard plots in two former one-hectare enclosures, which had previously served for nearly 20 years as pasture for a herd of European fallow deer and a few Tibetan yaks.

In 2019, Steve Beauséjour, an experienced sommelier and a key figure in the growth and popularity of natural wines in the Montreal scene, joined Simon to study the typicality of grape varieties adapted to our climate. Together, they taste the fruits, attempt to understand their personality and nuances, discuss the best winemaking methods to craft genuine, honest, flavorful, and energetic wines that make you thirsty. Together, they created «Les Beaux Jus», a range of wines built around the crisp acidity of local grape varieties. Since 2020, all of the wines crafted at the vineyard adhere to the principles of respect for life, purity, and authenticity, with no addition of chemical or aromatic inputs, no filtration, and no added sulfites.

Since 2022, Véronique Lemieux, a curious woman passionate about biodiversity, agroforestry, and the role and contribution of animals to a plot of fruit trees and shrubs, has joined the La Bauge team. Together, Véronique, Steve, and our winemaker Simon have envisioned and implemented a new plot built around this biodiversity and respect for life. It will also serve as a study base to test certain principles in regenerative agriculture.

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