Vive la difference!

A one-night stand in Montreal is likely to be memorable. The city is chic, bawdy, and just exotic enough to feel like a real getaway. But a long weekend touring the rest of Quebec reveals a different character entirely.

Modern Quebecers are in love with the French-Canadian heritage that connects them to their forefathers, the French who began settling here in the 17th century and who were known as habitants Qu´ebecois. Their traditions are generally more rural than cosmopolitan.

Producers of typically French farmhouse foods such as cheeses, ciders, and wines benefit from state-run scenic routes, which meander by their farms, orchards, and creameries. Quebec tourists cruise these roads in cars with license plates displaying the province’s motto, ‘‘Je me souviens’’ (‘‘I remember’’).

The ‘‘Route des Vins’’ is one such drive. It traverses Quebec’s wine country, which centers around the town of Dunham in the Eastern Townships (Cantons de l’Est) region to the southeast of Montreal. Here, French-Canadian winemakers have worked hard to establish a winemaking region. Every spring, they dig their vines out of the ground, where they lie buried through subfreezing winter temperatures. Vignoble de l’Orpailleur, the largest winery in the region, translates to ‘‘vineyard of the gold prospector.’’

‘‘In order to survive, we have to be tough, like the vines,’’ saysNad`ege Marion, owner of the small Les Trois Clochers winery. She produces a crisp, dry wine from the hybrid Seyval blanc grape, which ripens quickly.

Like most farmers and winemakers in the region, Marion collaborates with neighbors. Sediment from fermenting vats goes to a farmer across the road, who uses it to scent soap she makes by hand, using milk from her goats. Marion sells the soap in her winery’s shop.

At Au Temps desMˆ ures, a local bed and breakfast, owner Marie-Jos´ee Potvin serves a pˆ at´e of duck and pistachio. It’s a tasty, if unconventional, breakfast. Light and meaty, the pˆ at´e comes from a local producer, who provides terrines in exchange for maple syrup. Potvin and her husband, Pierre Cormier, also operate a sugarbush of about 20,000 taps across the road from their bed-and-breakfast.