In mid September, I had the opportunity to attend the Fall Wine Club Release at Hidden Bench Winery in Beamsville, Ontario. As a member of their Wine Club, I'm invited in the spring and the fall for wine club releases. This involves a sit down tasting of the wines in the release paired with small bites. It also involves picking up your allocation of wine!
It was a beautiful Saturday, around 24 Celsius (that's about 75 Fahrenheit); the sun was shining and it was a great day to be at a winery....although I can't imagine any day that ISN'T great to be at a winery!
Hidden Bench is a certified organic estate winery that grows all of the fruit used in their wines. Located within the Beamsville Bench VQA sub-appelation, they produce high quality wine in limited quantities. Finding their wines in a retail store is tough, so the best way to enjoy their wine is by signing up for a twice per year wine club allocation. Hidden Bench offers three levels of membership, detailed on their website and available by clicking here.
As we entered the tasting room, we were greeted by Maura and provided Hidden Bench stickers to wear - this identified us as "people there for the Wine Club event". We were poured a flute of the 2014 Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine. This is 100% Chardonnay from the Locust Lane Vineyard. Perfectly chilled, the bubbles were a great way to start the day. We went outside to enjoy the sun on the gorgeous veranda and relax before starting the rest of the tasting. Minutes later a server appeared with a tray of gougeres, fresh from the oven. A gougere is a light, airy cheese puff, often made with gruyere, but these were made with a local cheese called Niagara Gold. In a word: YUM. There is really no way to not enjoy a warm cheese puff!
It was soon time to move in to the area for our tasting, which was set up with tables of eight. The wines were already poured - breathing - and labeled, and our food pairings were being served as we sat down.
Our first still wine, the 2018 Estate Riesling, was served with an Alsatian Tart. Who knew an onion tart could be so good? We also received a recipe card for this pairing, which I'm looking forward to making at home!
Our next wine, the 2017 Nuit Blanche, is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. It was paired with a savory Coq au Vin Blanc. I'm a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc, and this wine is no exception!
Next up, two Chardonnays. The 2016 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay and the 2016 Tête de Cuvée Chardonnay. These were paired with Niagara Gold cheese on a crostini with local fruit preserves; the Felseck Vineyard with stewed plum preserves and the Tête de Cuvée with stewed apricot preserves. I'm usually not a big fan of Chardonnay from Canada and the United States because I find they usually have a very prominent oak flavor - often overpowering for my palate. The good news is I am working on enjoying them more. These two Chardonnays were both lovely, and I don't think I've ever had Chardonnay paired with semi-firm cheese. It was a great pairing and I really enjoying these two wines.
Our first red wine, the 2017 Estate Pinot Noir, was paired with a smoke roasted pork tenderloin and cranberry chutney on a crostini. This Pinot Noir is very young, and definitely not ready to drink, but it was very nice with the pork tenderloin and cranberry.
Next was the 2016 Locust Lane Pinot Noir. This wine was paired with a confit of lamb shoulder with a red wine glaze. I'm usually not a big fan of lamb, because I find the taste too strong, but I really enjoyed it with this wine.
Our final wine was the 2016 Terroir Caché paired with a braised lamb osso buco. Again, as someone who usually doesn't enjoy lamb, the lamb was a wonderful complement to this wine. This vintage of Terroir Caché is a Merlot blend, with Malbec and Cabernet Franc. While it is a very young wine, it is dark and silky, and it will definitely benefit from a few years of aging.
After our tasting, we loaded our wine club allocation in the car. This was a great way to spend a few hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon! I'm hoping to attend the next event in the Spring of 2020.
Thanks for reading!
