A Life, Lived

March 14th AKA Birthday Celebration # 3

I know that some folks get depressed about turing 50. I have decided to embrace it! My 50th is on July 14th and I am determined to enjoy a drink on the 14th of every month to celebrate this new decade.

On January 14th I celebrated with cake and champagne in Berlin.

On February 14th I celebrated with a martini and charcuterie in front of the fireplace.

Today mom and I went to one of our favourite wineries - Peninsula Ridge - for lunch. I celebrated with a glass of their wonderful Pinot Grigio. It was an a amazing wine and when we went to the wine shop to buy some we were told it was all sold out making the glass we enjoyed with lunch special indeed!

It is unusual to have snow at this time of the year but this shot of the vineyard with its winter coat speaks to how odd a winter it has been.

The restaurant is located in the William D. Kitchen house, a restored red brick Victorian house. The William D. Kitchen manor, which was originally built in 1885, was declared a historic site by the Ontario Heritage Act for its historical and Queen Anne-style architectural significance. A turret and cedar-shingled roof, French doors with beveled glass, and a cherry wood staircase are just some of the elegant, Victorian features of the house.

We decided to each have a salad to start and then to share a pizza.

This is my grilled baby romaine caesar salad with serrano ham, fried capers, pecorino cheese shavings and anchovy lemon dressing.

I'mglad that we decided to split the pizza because I was getting full after the salad! Our pizza was grilled and came with mushrooms, serrano ham, caramelized onions, aged cheddar, roasted garlic white sauce and fig jam. WOW This was great!

We passed on dessert - we were both stuffed by this point. Mind you, we did manage to 'find ourselves' at the Dutch bakery in Beamsville were we always find a few yummy treats (shockingly we showed unusual restraint) for a delayed dessert.

Lunch became even better when mom declared that it was her treat!

Who was I to argue?

Thanks mom!

Mom checking out the architecture of the Kitchen House

20 Valley Food Truck Eats

Food Truck Eats, the ongoing series of wildly popular and successful event celebrating Ontario’s
burgeoning gourmet street food culture held its first annual Food Truck Eats in Jordan wine country … at one of our favourite wineries - Sue-Ann Staff!

Saturday was a wash for us as it was cool and wet (literallya wash! *smile*). Sunday was still cool but the rain was gone so we hopped in the car and headed to Jordan.

Food trucks from across the province of Ontario were there celebrate Southern Ontario’s flourishing street food scene. Participating trucks included Niagara’s own El Gastronomo Vagabundo plus Buster’s Sea Cove, Itty Bitty Pie,  Gorilla Cheese, Tide &Vine, Rome’n Chariot, Rudy’s Paletas and a a host of others.

A good number of Sue-Ann's favourite wineries were there pouring large tastes of their wares.

We had some great food, tasted some brilliant wines, met some really nice people and had an amazing time!

Photo Hunt -Plant

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'plant'.

This pic is one I took recently of one of my favourite plants - the source of continuous joy and happiness. :-)

Balls Falls

On our recent trip to Niagara we planned a picnic lunch at Balls Falls. Set within the breathtaking Twenty Valley watershed, Ball’s Falls Conservation Area offers spectacular scenery and natural beauty.

Ball’s Falls has been lovingly maintained to its early mid 19th century industrial hamlet atmosphere featuring the original Ball family home, an operating flour mill, a lime kiln, a church, black smith shop, carriage shed and more.

The Twenty Mile Creek plummets over both the upper and lower falls. The falls tumble delightfully over high cliffs and can be viewed at close proximity from above or below. The character of the falls changes dramatically with the seasons, ranging from a raging torrent in the spring to a thin veil in late summer.

One one visit the falls had run dry. We were happy on this visit to see some 'action'.

Ball’s Falls and its majestic scenery is the perfect setting for any special event or a storybook wedding day. Sure enough, on the day we visited a wedding was taking place.

The barn was beautifully decorated for the reception. Outdoor games were set up in the field beside the church. There was even an outdoor 'lounge' which we figured would be full later in the day!

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.