A Life, Lived

An Impromptu Visit to Niagara

There are times when we plan our visits to wine country well in advance - carefully researching the wineries we hope to visit, the wines we wish to sample, and the places to go for a hike, food, or to shop. Other times we wake up and just head out. A few weeks ago we had just that sort of visit.

This visit started when I read a tweet from one of our favourite food trucks stating that they would be at Dillons distillery for Sunday brunch withthree other food trucks. Hmmm - I had wanted to visit Dillons for some time.

Then I received an e-mail from one of our most visited wineries which we had rather ignored of late because there were just too many wineries to go to. Malivoire had a new release that they were celebrating  AND the Cheesy Guys food truck was to be parked there. This food truck is reputed to have Canada's best grilled cheese sandwich.

Our day was set!

Malivoire was out first stop. They have really focused on the tasting room doubling the space and including a few interactive aspects to add to the experience. We tasted the new releases and bought a case to bring home.

The Cheesy Guys were set up outside.

We sampled some of their cheeses - all artisanal and handcrafted products . . . all amazing (at least the ones we tried).

On that day they were featuring two grilled paninis. Since we had heard so much about their grilled cheese made with a cheese blend and served with their house-made salsa ketchup we had that.

It was every bit as amazing as we had heard!

After gorging on gooey, melted cheese encased in crisp, buttered bread we hopped back into the car and headed to Dillon's (because we needed to eat more . . .)

Dillon's is a new addition to the Niagara wine country. Geoff Dillon (with degrees in biochemistry and economics), along with his father, Dr. Peter Dillon (a professor at Trent University who specializes in biogeochemistry), opened the doors to Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers in 2012. Using the bounty of natural botanicals, herbs and fruit sourced from Niagara, the distillery is focused squarely on small-batch spirits, hand-crafted at the production facility shared with Angels Gate Winery.

The first products from Dillon’s are made from a base of Niagara grapes that would otherwise have been thrown to the ground during the annual thinning process. Instead, they are dropped into baskets, fermented and distilled at Dillon’s.

The grape-based spirit provides the base for the various distilled products, including Dillon’s Small Batch White Rye (with a delightful nose of rye, minerals and a touch of citrus); the Small Batch Gin (a mellow and smooth elixir with notes of juniper, herbs, tonic and spice) and a line of bitters all made with a mixture of fresh botanicals.

When we got to Dillon's the parking lot was full and there were groups of people standing around munching on food. We made a beeline to our favourite food truck - the Gastronomo Vagabundo. Unfortunately they were not serving their famous fish tacos and we selling out of many things already.

We ordered the corn fritters and salmon kibbeh rissole even though we didn't have a clue what that was. *smile* When the food was ready we took possession of an upturned wine barrel and munched on the amazing food.

After we had eaten we noticed the menu of the Tide and Vine truck. We had thought they only served oysters but realised that they also had lobster rolls, scallop and Niagara peach skewers, and watermelon gazpacho with crab salad.  Shoot - so much to eat and so little time.

There was also a women selling 'adult' popsicles made with local fruit and spirits.

The folks from Dillon's had created specialty coctails for the day and were serving them up to happy people. I would have indulged but was worried about driving afterwards!

After eating we popped into the distillery to taste the gin, vodka, rye, and sample the bitters. It was quick to see why this spot has developed such a buzz in less than a year!

We bought a bottle of each of the spirits and a sampler box of the bitters.

I see many cocktail experiments in our future . . .

Mother's Day in Niagara

For the past three years we have taken mom to Niagara to celebrate Mother's Day with the best that wine country has to offer. Rather than join the crowds on Sunday itself we took advantage of Paul being off work during the week and me taking vacation days to make a stress-less day of it. This makes for a happy mom, who has a great adventure, and a happy Jerry and Paul since we don't have to fight through crowds.

This year we started off at the Niagara butterfly conservatory.

There we discovered that photographing butterflies was bloody difficult!

On the way to our next stop we passed the famous floral clock. Because it was overcast and rainy the usual tour buses weren't there yet so we did a quick u-turn and pulled in.

It is hard to believe that this clock, one of the largest floral clocks in the world, has been ticking away the seconds for more than 60 years.

Other than the rain and grey skies it was a beautiful day. The blossoms were out in full force.

One of the things that mom declared she wanted to do while we were in Niagara-on-the-Lake was to go to the Lavender farm. We had just enough time for a visit and shopping spree prior to our lunch reservations.

We had to backtrack a bit in order to get to the restaurant but when you're driving along quiet country roads past orchards in full bloom, lambs frolicking in the fields,  and vineyards in leaf bud who could complain?

Lunch was at the restaurant in Ravine winery. I had heard many good things about this spot but never eaten there myself. The menu is inspired by traditional French bistro dishes, highlighting the seasonal bounty and offerings of the local farmers in Niagara. Each dish is paired with one of the wineries own vintages.

The restaurant has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the vineyard. We were shown to our table and proceeded to have one of the best meals we've eaten in years!

The food was brilliant - so good that it is worthy of a post all its own in the near future.

After lunch we wandered around the winery a bit taking photos, tasting wine, and doing some shopping in their wee food boutique.

We made a beeline for the Niagara College Greenhouses to buy plants grown by the horticulture students (note: cheapest place anywhere to buy perennials, hanging baskets, bedding plants, and herbs). By the time we pulled out of the parking lot the car was FULL and we hadn't even visited the three wineries we had selected for visits yet.

It had been some time since we had visited the wineries on the Beamsville Bench so that was out wine tasting destination. The 'bench' occupies a narrow strip of land with vineyards clinging to its slopes. Warm days, cool nights and deep soils help to shape the character of the wines made at the wineries.

First up was Organized Crime - no, not THAT organized crime. Instead the name refers to two warring Mennonite congregations who were known to plan stealth action against one another from time to time. The most infamous example being the night that some of the men from one church's congregation broke into the other church, loaded the organ up on their buggy, and proceeded to drive it to a nearby gully where they tipped it over the edge.

We could have walked to Fielding Estates, our next stop. Actually, you can walk to all of the wineries on the Bench!

Fielding Estate Winery is a small family-run winery producing limited batch wines through traditional methods. Located on an 18-acre vineyard at the high end of the bench, the siting and building design maximize arable vineyard and optimize the visitors’ views across the landscape.

I love the way they have Muskoka chairs lined up on the terrace so you can sit there, sipping wine, looking out across the vineyards of the Bench. On clear days you can see right through to Toronto!

We had a short drive to the final winery of the day: Hidden Bench. I had been hearing great things about the wines that they produce since they have been winning plenty of awards, however we had never visited. This small, yet modern and sophisticated, estate winery showcases the terroir of the Beamsville Bench through their award-winning Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling.

We were surprised to see that they had fresh eggs for sale in addition to amazing wines! Apparently they have chickens who have large runs in the vineyards. We bought a dozen (on top of a case of wine) and headed out to the vineyard to thank the hens for their gift.

By now the car was bursting at the seams. We managed to find room for mom amongst the lavender, plants, wine, bread, preserves, eggs, and other purchases, and made our way back home. It had been a happy, full day!

Travel Tuesdays - Niagara

This time last week I was in Niagara Falls for a training session. I am now back in the office overwhelmed a bit with work. For travel Tuesdays I am heading back to Niagara for a much needed break!

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays.

Hinterbrook Winery

I was in Niagara last weekend with our professional course instructors for three days of training. Part of the fun was a wine tour which we organized for Sunday afternoon. We gathered outside the hotel at 1:00 PM, loaded up on our two mini-buses, and headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Our first stop was a fairly new winery - Hinterbrook.

Hinterbrook has a story like many Niagara wineries - the family started out growing stone fruit but when the wine industry started to take off the orchards were pulled out and grapes planted. After supplying grapes to area wineries for a number of years they started to wonder about making their own wine.

After a good deal of research and planning the winery opened for business in 2011.

Paul and I first discovered Hinterbrook last spring. We enjoyed their wines so much that I knew it was a good start for our group.

The entire Nickel family believes the environment is a gift. As stewards, it's their responsibility to ensure the wine-making is sustainable and healthy to the environment. They make their wines with passion, heart and responsibility.

The giant solar panel on the property was the first sign of that.

Our guide for the day was Andrew Nickel. We learned that he is a voracious reader and equal parts scientist & historian. He studied Wine and Viticulture at Niagara College & earned a bachelor’s in history from McMaster.  We also learned that he is funny as heck!

He took us around the winery showing us how they make their wines and the steps that they take to reduce the environmental footprint of each bottle. All the while he filled the time with funny stories and poured generous samples of their reisling, rose, and merlot.

It was a perfect winery with which to start our afternoon of touring - inspiring story, casual, laid back, and delicious wines!

Photo Hunt - Flow

This week's Photo Hunt theme is flow.

I was going to go with the flow and post one of a gazillion water fall, fountain, or river picturs that I have on file. Instead I went with this one:

This is juice starting to flow from grapes we helped to harvest.

Mind you, this is how we harvested them:

Yes, what you see flowing up above is the famous Canadian ice wine.

Icewine (or, in German, Eiswein) is an expensive type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, so the result is a concentrated, often very sweet wine. In the case of ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterward. Only healthy grapes keep in good shape until the opportunity for ice wine harvest, which may be in the next calendar year. This gives ice wine its characteristic refreshing sweetness balanced by high acidity.

Most ice wines are harvested at night (after midnight) when the temperature is - 8 degrees Celsius or colder. Because of the cold temperatures it was easy to snap the frozen clusters of berries off of the vines and place them in the bins on the ground below.

About a year later 'our' ice wine arrived, signed with a gold pen by the wine maker.

Ice Wine Martini

We arrived back in Canada in the midst of the ice wine festival. We briefly debated heading out and joining in in the festivities but saner heads (read Paul's) prevailed. While we like ice wine we don't often drink it. I have 9 bottles of the stuff down in the cellar ( quite an investment when you consider a bottle retails for anywhere from $ 25 - $ 60!) and I have no control at wine festivals. None at all. I taste it. I like it. I buy it. Full stop!

Some of you out there might not know what ice wine is. Ice Wine is a rare gift from a magical (and bloody cold!!!!!) Canadian winter. Picked at the coldest moment of a winter's night, each frozen grape creates just one drop of Ice Wine. One smooth rich, luxurious drop.

In Ontario, Ice Wine must be made from approved grape varieties; the most popular are Vidal Blanc, Riesling and Cabernet Franc. Some small lots include Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The season starts with netting the grape vines in the autumn, to protect the grapes from being devoured by birds. Grapes are left on the vine until a sustained temperature of -8°C or lower is reached (sometime between December and February). During the time between the end of the growing season and harvest, the grapes dehydrate, concentrating the juices and creating the characteristic complexities of Ice Wine.

Grape growers and wineries carefully watch the weather, looking for an optimum stretch of temperatures between -10°C and -12°C. This range will produce very sweet juice in the range of 35°Bx to 39°Bx (degrees Brix, a measurement of sugar). Typically, a period of at least six hours is needed to harvest and press the grapes—usually during the night. Many wineries harvest by hand.

While still frozen, the harvested grapes are pressed, leaving most of the water behind as ice. Only a small amount of concentrated juice is extracted. Juice yields for Ice Wine grapes are much lower than for table wines—only 15% of the expected yield for grapes harvested for table wines. The juice is very sweet and can be difficult to ferment. High sugars can create a hostile environment for the yeast, and fermentation stops early, leaving relatively low alcohol and high sugar levels in the finished wine.

A few years ago Paul and I participated in an ice wine harvest with our friend Catherine. I blogged about it here, back in the early days of this blog. I can still remember the bone chilling cold, the bright moon at midnight, and the amazement of watching the thick juice trickle out as it was pressed from the frozen grapes.

All of the chatter about ice wine recently caused me to crave it. I decided to make a martini that I've made a few times yet never blogged about. I've have blogged about ice wine martinis before but that was a combination of vodka, Grand Marnier, and Ice Wine. There are times I want something that is more pure - this one fits the bill!

In addition to the local ice wine we decided that the martini had to be mixed with a local vodka! I used some of the whole wheat vodka from Ontario's own brilliant 66 Gilead Distillery. The result was brilliant!

 

Ice Wine Martini

1 oz Ice Wine
1 1/2 oz Premium Vodka
Frozen grape or twist of orange peel

Shake the Ice Wine and Vodka in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the frozen grape or twist.

Travel Tuesdays - Back to Niagara

Where oh where are my travels taking me this week?

I think back to Niagara where we had such a great time at the wine and cheese pairing I wrote about on Sunday. Even though I included many shots in that post there are more . . .

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

 

An Afternoon of Wine and Cheese at Stratus Winery

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from one of our favourite wineries in Niagara making us aware of a special event they werehosting - 'Cheese Boutique @ Stratus'. 'Hmmmm - an afternoon of wine and cheese - what's not to love about that?

I checked with Paolo and he was game so I went online and ordered tickets.

I've written about Stratus before and mentioned the Cheese Boutique in a few posts but I should expand upon that a bit. The Cheese Boutique has been providing Toronto with fine cheeses for more than 40 years. The 'shop' is now under the watchful eyes of son Afrim who was made a chevalier by Confrérie des Chevaliers du Taste Fromage de France in 2007.

At the Cheese Boutique prosciutto hangs from the ceiling, truffles are flown in every Wednesday, foie gras sits under lock and key, beef is dry aged 60 days, there are olive oils from 80 different terroirs and jams made from green walnuts, the best artisanal breads of the city, not to mention the chocolate boutique, pastry temptations and daily handpicked produce - but it is for the cheese that one must really come here. This is a place where "best before" dates do not apply. Taking something good and making it great is a constant philosophy of Cheese Boutique.

Do you see why this wine and cheese pairing excited us?

We decided to combine the tasting with some shopping over the border so it was an early morning indeed.

We arrived at Stratus we quickly munched down the sandwiches that we had picked up for lunch and headed inside. If there had been any doubt that we were in the right place the famous cheese boutique car parked in front of the winery would have cleared that up immediately.

When we checked in we were quickly hustled out onto the lovely terrace overlooking the vineyard where we discovered that the winery had decided to offer a tour of the vineyard and wine making facility for those who were interested. A glass of wine was offered so we could sip while we walked and listened. What is not to love about that?

I was surprised to see that the grapes were still on the vines since I knew by the various twitter feeds I follow that many other wineries had been harvesting for weeks. Our guide explained that Stratus would start their harvest and crush on Monday. One of the interesting things about the facility is that they tend to leave their grapes on the vines longer than any other winery in Niagara to ensure maximum ripeness and flavour.

After wandering the vineyard we moved into the LEED certified wine making facility where we saw that everything was cleaned and ready for the crush to start. It was interesting to learn about their wine making and compare it to others we know about. Stratus tends to be less machine driven than most - it's a hands on operation where they try to limit mechanical intervention so as to not introduce harshness into the juice.

Now that we were 'experts' on the winery and their unique processes we went back out to the terrace to start our tasting the fruits of their labours. They had a Chardonnay for us to try - and you could tell immediately that their winermaker was from the Loire valley! This wasn't one of those cloying, heavily oaked Chards from California . . . the type where I get a headache after one sip. This was a lovely wine indeed.

We 'met' Afrim and he told us about the Cheese Boutique and some of the things that made them one of the best purveyors of cheese on the planet (no, I am not exaggerating, on any given day you can find more than 1500 types of cheeses there - many which are not available anywhere outside of their local area where they were produced). We were amazed to hear that they have cheeses that are produced just for them.

The first cheese was brilliantly paired with the Chardonnay - we knew immediately that we were in for a wonderful afternoon!

We moved back into the wine making facility where a giant table was set up. At each spot was a piece of used wine barrel stave on which was set out five cheese samples as well as five glasses of wine. Afrim had also brought along a treat - some marcona almonds from Spain which we've had before but from the ohhs and ahhs of the crowd I think were new for many, as well as some of the wonderful breads that they bake daily at the Cheese Boutique.

For the next 2 hours we nibbled, sipped, and learned more about the fine world of wine and cheese.

In short, it was a brilliant way to spend the afternoon!

Funny story - as we were leaving the staff from the Cheese Boutique were handing out business cards so folks would know where they were located. When it was my turn he looked at me and said 'you've been in the store before, I know you know here we are!' Hmmm . . . I wonder if I buy too much cheese? *smile*

Travel Tuesdays - Wine Country

This week for Travel Tuesdays I am heading back to Ontario's lovely Niagara wine country where the grapes are about three weeks ahead of schedule.

I love watching the grapes develop - so much promise of great bottles of wine there . . .

Feel free to travel along. All you need to do is to pop on over to Sandi's  blog and join in the fun!

Niagara New Vintage Festival Tailgate Pary

Last Saturday we had the great pleasure of visiting the New Vintage Festival Tailgate Party. The tickets were $ 85 a person but we won then as a part of the New Vintage getaway thanks to the fine folks at the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival, Vintage Hotels, and Vines Magazine.

We'd never been to a tailgate party so we weren't sure what to expect - no, to my American friends, we Canucks just don't do tailgates the way you do south of the border. I googled a bit and this is what I discovered:

The New Vintage Festival is a time of growth and rebirth among Niagara’s 18,000 acres of lush vineyards – a testament to the rich soil and unique climate of the region.

Experience the beginning of a new season in the vineyard as we celebrate the efforts from vineyard to farm and winemaker to chef.

The TD Tailgate Party will take place amongst the vines at Hughes Vineyards, home of the Grape King, where Niagara’s celebrated winemakers will tell their Cool Climate Story and local chefs will present the bounty from our own backyard.

The tastings and culinary extravaganzas will entice your inner gourmand. It promises to be an unforgettable solstice evening.

Join Dairy Farmers of Canada as they present fine Canadian cheeses. Eight Niagara chefs will create superb summer recipes featuring the finest produce and meats from local growers. Not only is the fare fresh, but we all reduce our carbon footprint when we enjoy locally produced foods and wines.

This year, in addition to over 30 of the region’s top wineries, the Black Spurs will entertain you with their own brand of roots rock and alternative country, with influences ranging from the Kinks to Johnny Cash and Blue Rodeo. The stage is set for a casual backyard event with friends, old and new.

30 wineries . . . 8 area chefs preparing food for us all . . . live music in the vineyard . . . finally a party we could truly LOVE!

The festival organizers had arranged shuttle busses for us. We loaded up on the bus and headed to the vineyard. When we got there were were greeted with a glass of freshly made lemonade to recover from the journey and later an empty wine glass to start sipping.

From that point on one just cut loose and enjoyed oneself . . .

You can tell by this collection of pics that it was a BLAST! We're already looking forward to next year's tailgate soiree . . .