Hidden Bench Felsesk Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016, VQA Beamsville Bench, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

🍇 Pinot Noir 100%

🧐 Alcohol 13%

🍁 My Score 90 Points

🔹 Slightly shy on the nose with aromas ripe cherries, pomegranates, underbrush, graphite, spices and light smoke. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied, dry, slightly rustic with fuzzy tannins and balanced acidity. The finish is medium length with sour-edged flavours of cherries and plums with underlying earthiness and minerals.

🔸 I fell in love with this Pinot, when I visited the winery last December. This is complex style of Pinot which would shine at the diner table. I can really see this wine being paired with a Coq au Vin. There is so much going on in this dish that the flavours of this Pinot would pair beautifully. Great potential to score even higher with a few extra years in bottle. Certainly glad that I have a few more bottles left. Cheers my wine friends🍷

FREE MY GRAPES 🍇 🇨🇦

Beautiful delivery today from Hidden Bench winery from Ontario 😊

Recently I was reminded of the wonderful wines I had tasted from this winery last December. With the limited space in my suitcase for my flight back home I opted to place an order online and have it shipped. Luckily I live in British Columbia (more on that later)

Latest addition to my cellar;

🔹 Felseck Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 x3
🔹 Locust Lane Pinot Noir 2016
🔹Terroir Caché 2016 (Merlot, Malbec & Cabernet Franc blend)
🔸Fumé Blanc Rosomel Vineyard 2018

All of these wines, except for the Fumé Blanc (which as just been released) where tasted on my visit in December. The wines arrived in perfect condition and in less than a week. Free shipping across Canada is definitely a great initiative. Thank you so much 😊

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Many people outside of Canada may not know how regulated the sales of alcoholic products are in this country. Could you imagine if you are living in Rome but couldn’t order wines from Piedmont or living in Lyon and couldn’t ordered wine from Bordeaux. People wouldn’t stand for this. But in Canada, each of the ten provinces have their own regulations, taxes and are reluctant to change this system which dates back to the prohibition era. We are working on free trade with many countries but we don’t practice free trade within our own country. The free movement of wine across the country could only benefit our Canadian wineries, the jobs they create and allow wine lovers like me to acquire rare and limited Canadian wines not available in your home province. Fortunately, some of these barriers are coming down. Three provinces including my British Columbia (the other two are Manitoba and Nova Scotia) allow shipping of wines from out of province. Regulations restricting interprovincial shipping to Ontario are set to expired on Canada Day July 1. Let us hope that Ontario wine lovers will be able to purchase online, Canadian wines, like I can, from anywhere in our beautiful Country 🇨🇦

Touring Ontario Wine Country

This last Sunday with a visit to these three wineries 

🔹First stop at Rosewood Estate Winery and Meadery.  Even if it had been ten years since I last tasted this wineries Merlot, I could almost still taste it. To my surprise, they no longer make Merlot. Like many of their neighbours, they lost all of their Merlot after the vine-killing frost of 2014. A few wineries replanted their Merlot but most replaced with a more sturdy vines like Gamay. My favourites;

🍇 Pét-Nat 2018 (Pinot Noir/Gamay)

🍇 Chardonnay Renaceau Vineyard 2016

🍇 Pinot Noir BlackJack Vineyard 2017

A winery tailor made for my palate. Beautiful, aromatic, elegant wines with low alcohol. If like me, you enjoy local honey products and mead you will be delighted with a visit to this winery. Strongly recommended 👌😊

🔹Second stop Thirty Bench Wine Makers  This is my first visit to this winery. They do have a beautiful spot on the Beamsville bench and are known for their portfolio of Riesling. Strongly recommended. My favourite;

🍇 Small Lot Riesling Steel Post Vineyard 2017

🍇 Small Lot Merlot 2016

Beautiful, classic aromatics on their Rieslings with different levels of alcohol and sweetness and this Merlot is really delicious 🍷

🔹Third stop Hidden Bench Estate Winery  I have heard great things from Hidden Bench but never tasted their wines until today. Oh my Gosh! What a treat 😊 My favourites;

🍇 Pinot Noir Locust Lane Vineyard 2016

🍇 Pinot Noir Felsek Vineyard 2016

🍇 Terroir Caché 2016

All of these beauties are unfiltered 👌 A new favourite.  Period. 🙂  Such a delicious lineup from Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and their Meritage blend. Beautiful texture in their Pinot’s and their Terroir Caché (Bordeaux blend) is very flavourful. Thank you Melissa for this out standing wine experience 🙂

Happy Holidays to all of you and your families. The time to open something special is today 😊 Cheers my wine friends 🍷