{"id":6469,"date":"2026-03-10T09:15:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.laroutedesvins.ca\/meres-et-vigneronnes\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:46:41","slug":"meres-et-vigneronnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.laroutedesvins.ca\/en\/meres-et-vigneronnes\/","title":{"rendered":"Motherhood and Winemaking: The Tale of Two Amazing Women on La\u00a0Route des vins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Laurence-Mich\u00e8le Dufour<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as each interview gets under way, it becomes quite clear that painting a portrait of these two passionate and engaged winemakers of the region can\u2019t be complete without including their roles as mothers and without mentioning the unconditional support they\u2019ve received from their life partners for both their projects. St\u00e9phanie Thibodeau of\u00a0\u00a0Vignoble L\u2019Ardennais<\/a>\u00a0in Stanbridge East and Manon Rousseau of\u00a0Vignoble Pigeon Hill<\/a>\u00a0in Saint-Armand: Strong, yet compassionate women who\u2019ve chosen to pursue their dreams to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heading Out Into the Country<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Manon and her husband, Kevin Shufelt, met while they were both working for the same accounting firm in Montr\u00e9al. Kevin, the son of a farmer, soon found his way back to the land and brought his new love along with him. Having initially run a dairy farm, the couple took on a new challenge when Manon \u2013 who, by her own admission, is very fond of red wine \u2013 suggested that her husband might use his father\u2019s land in Pigeon Hill for a completely different kind of project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t always afford to buy fine wines, so I said to my husband: \u2018We\u2019ve got 500 acres, we\u2019ve got the most beautiful terroir here, why don\u2019t we plant some vines?\u2019 The idea kept running through our minds, and that\u2019s how it all started!<\/em><\/p>– Manon Rousseau<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They set out to find the grape variety that would appeal to Manon\u2019s taste buds\u2013the most challenging part of launching the project, in her view\u2013and in 2008 they became the first to plant Marquette grapes in Qu\u00e9bec. Their children, Trisha, Matthew and Thomas, were then respectively 11, 10 and 6 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n