Buying wine in Quebec to take on board

[Sue's Mom]

We are cruising with HAL in October and are "allowed" to take wine on board. We will be staying in Old Town for two nights pre-cruise and would be grateful for advice on where to purchase a bottle or two. ;)

 

Also how much could we expect to pay for an inexpensive but not rubbish bottle of - say - merlot or cab sauv or, better still, pinot noir?

[Twickenham]

What hotel are you staying at? There's a provincial liquor store at the Château Frontenac, in upper town, but elsewhere you should be able to find some wine in most corner shops (called "dépanneur" here). There's a fairly large Metro (grocery) store down the road from the dock, on a direct bus route in fact, which should have some wine as well. As for prices, you should be able to pick up a decent bottle for $10-12 (about 5-6 pounds).

For the SAQ (provincial liquor store) see: http://www.saq.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/GeneralContentView?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&page=%2Fnh%2FHome

[Sue's Mom]

We are staying here:-

 

Le Château de Pierre

17, Avenue Ste-Geneviève

Québec

 

Thank you for the helpful and comprehensive information. I am sure we will be able to find what we want.

 

 

PS What a really useful website - thank you - it helps to know what to expect. Wow, that website even says how many bottles of a particular wine are left at a particular outlet!! That's amazing. I wish more websites were so efficient.

[Twickenham]

We are staying here:-

 

Le Château de Pierre

17' date=' Avenue Ste-Geneviève

Québec [/quote']

 

Edit: Read it wrong. This hotel is in Upper Town. My aunt used to live next door - really cute place. You're an easy walk to the Château Frontenac and the SAQ from here, and a taxi to the dock shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. Be sure to go check out the view of your ship in port from the boardwalk. Spectacular!

[Ephraim]

Wine sales in Quebec are divided in two markets.

 

The provincial liquor commission, called the SAQ in Quebec has the largest selections of wine and alcohol in the province. Depending on the classification of the store, you can expect to see a large selection of French and Italian fine wines as well as wines from many other countries as well as Canada.

 

Depanneurs (Convenience stores) and grocery stores are allowed to sell wine and beer during most (but not all) open hours. They are allowed to sell only varietal wines (vin de cepage), in which the type of grape is not allowed to be disclosed.

 

If you want fine wine, go to the local SAQ. Their website is at http://www.saq.com you can see prices, locations and even inventory.

[Sue's Mom]

I apologise for being rude in that I did not give an update.

 

We did go to SAQ at the Chateau Frontenac and bought a few bottles of wine. Thank you so much for the heads up.