Protected: Sip & Savor returns to Canada: A season to remember in Montréal & Québec City

At the historic Marché Bonsecours, the Sip & Savor booth was a constant draw across all three days of the show. Visitors lingered over tastings of Roero Arneis DOCG and Roero Rosso DOCG, poured alongside a selection of delicious, high-quality European deli meats — together, wine and charcuterie brought out the best of each other’s flavours and aromas, an ideal discovery for visitors and a refreshingly original format for a wine show. From curious first-timers to seasoned wine lovers, the public asked thoughtful questions about terroir, production methods and protected-origin status, confirming Montréal’s appetite for European craftsmanship and turning the booth into one of the busiest stops of the show.

A week later, the project set up at the Manège Militaire Voltigeurs for RASPIPAV’s Québec City edition, where the same warm reception awaited. The tasting format travelled well: the freshness and minerality of Roero Arneis paired with the lighter cuts, while the structure of Roero Rosso stood up to the more intensely aged products, giving visitors a hands-on way to taste how terroir and craftsmanship meet on both sides of the pairing. Once again, the booth drew a steady stream of attentive

On the sidelines of the trade shows, Sip & Savor organized two invitation-only masterclasses that generated a great deal of interest among Quebec’s wine and gastronomy community.

Held in the Sofitel Montréal hotel, the Montréal masterclass was guided by Karyne Duplessis-Piché, a leading voice in Québec wine journalism. Over ninety minutes, guests explored the Roero appellation’s sandy hills and Langhe-adjacent climate, the winemaking choices behind its Arneis and Rosso expressions, and the diversity of the European deli meats on the table before moving into a guided pairing segment that sparked a lively exchange of questions on origin, craftsmanship and food culture.

Five days later, the Québec City masterclass unfolded at the École hôtelière de la Capitale under the guidance of Philippe Lapeyrie. The intimate, hands-on format, capped to keep every seat close to the tasting table, gave guests room to ask detailed questions about production methods and appellation rules, and to linger over the pairing demonstration that closed the session, from the lightest Arneis-driven combinations to the richer, Rosso-led ones.