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Hidden Bench Nuit Blanche 2019

Canada, Ontario
Organic
Biodynamic

This is a 'wow' wine.  From vines over 40 years old, a perfectly ripened Sauv Blan/Sem blend that will appeal to serious wine lovers.

This year’s vintage showcases lemongrass, white peach, and orange blossom notes on the nose, supported by wet stone, flinty minerality. The acidity is bright and refreshing with a weighty palate fleshed out by ripe orchard fruit notes, orange pith, green melon and grassy herbaceous hints. Oysters with mignonette, goat cheese and beet salad, or sweet peas on crème fraiche will pair perfectly. Drink now or age 3-5 years.  

Country Canada
Province Ontario
Region Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava Beamsville Bench VQA
Producer Hidden Bench Estate Winery
Vintage 2019
Color White Wine
Varietal(s) Sauvignon Blanc 86%, Sémillon 14%
¥7,150  (incl. tax)

This is a 'wow' wine.  From vines over 40 years old, a perfectly ripened Sauv Blan/Sem blend that will appeal to serious wine lovers.

This year’s vintage showcases lemongrass, white peach, and orange blossom notes on the nose, supported by wet stone, flinty minerality. The acidity is bright and refreshing with a weighty palate fleshed out by ripe orchard fruit notes, orange pith, green melon and grassy herbaceous hints. Oysters with mignonette, goat cheese and beet salad, or sweet peas on crème fraiche will pair perfectly. Drink now or age 3-5 years.  

Country Canada
Province Ontario
Region Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava Beamsville Bench VQA
Producer Hidden Bench Estate Winery
Vintage 2019
Color White Wine
Varietal(s) Sauvignon Blanc 86%, Sémillon 14%
Data
Closure Cork
Volume 750ml
Alcohol 13.0%
Product Code A020W00719
UPC No Jan
Inventory In Stock (16)
Owning & Enjoying

Tasting notes

This year’s vintage showcases lemongrass, white peach, and orange blossom notes on the nose, supported by wet stone, flinty minerality. The acidity is bright and refreshing with a weighty palate fleshed out by ripe orchard fruit notes, orange pith, green melon and grassy herbaceous hints.

Pairing

Oysters with mignonette, goat cheese and beet salad, or sweet peas on crème fraiche will pair perfectly.

Cellaring

Enjoy through 2025

Production

Viticulture

  • Harvest Dates: October 18, 2019  
  • Brix at harvest: 20.3 weighted average.
  • Blend and grape source: 100% organically certified Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon from the Rosomel Vineyard  

Vinification

  • Sauvignon Blanc: 86%, Semillon: 14%
  • Alcohol: 13.0%  
  • pH: 3.21
  • Residual Sugar: 1.8g/L
  • T.A. 6.96g/L
  • Oak regime: 100% French Oak: 16% new, 16% 2nd fill and balance neutral oak, for 8 months.
  • Bottling Date: June 10, 2020.
  • Certified Organic by Pro-Cert. 

A cool growing season followed by a late harvest allowed for full maturity and maximum ripeness of our Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes. The grapes were handpicked, gently hand sorted and whole bunch pressed. The juice was then left to settle at 5⁰C for 24 hours prior to racking then warmed up to 16⁰C and transferred to barrel. Fermentation took several months at cooler temperatures to help capture the floral, savoury and herbaceous notes of Sauvignon Blanc. At 14% the Semillon lends a honeyed note in the finished wine. The 2019 Nuit Blanche was blended in April after careful selection of the best barrels and bottled in June of 2020.  

Producer

Producer Description

About Hidden Bench Estate Winery Owner

Harald Thiel's uncompromising attention to detail has landed Hidden Bench in the Canadian Wine Awards' top 10 every year since the winery opened in 2007 - with Nuit Blanche named Canadian White Wine of the Year. This small, yet modern and sophisticated, estate winery is tucked away on Locust Lane in the Beamsville Bench appellation, essentially hidden by vines. HB's primary focus is to showcase the terroir of the Beamsville Bench through their award-winning Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling offerings.

Each and every wine at Hidden Bench is made under strict conditions:

  • Sustainable practices, which means 100% organically certified fruit from only estate vineyards.
  • Individually bunch sorted white wine varietals and bunch sorted and then individual berry sort all of the red wine varietals.
  • Non-interventionist, minimalist winemaking approach with gentle handling of the wine throughout the winemaking process.
  • All wines are made with wild yeast and anything that doesn’t ferment naturally is inoculated and declassified into the winery’s bistro label.

VINICULTURE

All grapes are handpicked from their estate vineyards into 10kg baskets and then carefully sorted at the winery by their “triage team” so as to ensure that only the cleanest and best fruit is used to make their wines. All white wine grapes receive a single “triage” and then are whole punch pressed to assure the gentlest extraction of juice. All red grapes, particularly Pinot Noir, are bunch sorted and destemmed and then receive a secondary individual berry “triage” prior to being placed in their oak and stainless steel fermenters.

The winemaking team benefits from all the latest technology, such as geothermal cooling and heating with precise temperature control installed in all tanks to permit extended natural settling and natural yeast ferments of whites and appropriate pre-natural ferment, cold maceration of the reds.

As estate winegrowers their goal is to have ther wines reflect the unique individual terroir of the Beamsville Bench sub-appellation parcels that they call home. Accordingly, they eschew non-organic additives and commercially selected yeasts and strive to bottle their wines un-fined and unfiltered whenever possible. All wines are bottled with minimal sulphur dioxide (SO2) to preserve their freshness and quality and to permit them to age gracefully. This approach has permitted the vast majority of theri wines to be vegan friendly and to be certified organic by Procert as of 2015/16.

We believe that real “Natural Wine” has its origin in certified organic and/or biodynamic estate fruit and a non-interventionist approach in the cellar with an acute and precise attention to detail from vineyard to bottle.

Jay Johnston - Winemaker

Following an inspiring food and wine trip to Canada’s west coast in 2002, Jay returned to Toronto with one thing in mind: Leave the software industry behind for a life in vines and wines. Since then Jay received his formal wine education through Niagara College’s Viticulture & Winemaking program, graduating in 2005. Jay was a part of the Hidden Bench team previously, and we are thrilled to welcome him back as our winemaker. Passionate about cool-climate varietals, with their finesse and their delicacy, Jay feels back at home to be focused on Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Chardonnay in the HB estate vineyards. With a deep passion for terroir, a desire to farm our vineyards to their greatest potential and a profound respect for cellarwork, Jay is extremely excited to be returning to the Hidden Bench family. 

 

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