back

Hidden Bench Felseck Chardonnay 2019

Canada, Ontario

Hidden Bench is one of the premier Chardonnay producers in Canada, producing classily flavoured old-world chardonnays with beautiful struture as well.

The 2019 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay is the follow up the the 'Best in Show' Chardonnay at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards!

Brilliant pale gold in colour, this wine opens with aromas of toasted hazelnuts, vanilla poached pears and white flower blossom. True to form, this vintage expresses flavours of fresh nectarine, yellow melon, and salted caramel, with the salinity and struck match mineral essence integrated into subtle toasted character from the wine’s 18 month élevage. A finely textured wine with impeccable balance and a long, lingering finish, this wine will reward 3 to 5 years of careful cellaring.

Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava	Beamsville Bench VQA
Producer	Hidden Bench Estate Winery
Vintage	2019
Color	White Wine
Varietal(s)	Chardonnay

¥7,700 (incl. tax)

Hidden Bench is one of the premier Chardonnay producers in Canada, producing classily flavoured old-world chardonnays with beautiful struture as well.

The 2019 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay is the follow up the the 'Best in Show' Chardonnay at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards!

Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Niagara Peninsula
Sub-Ava	Beamsville Bench VQA
Producer	Hidden Bench Estate Winery
Vintage	2019
Color	White Wine
Varietal(s)	Chardonnay

Data

Closure	Cork
Volume	750ml
Alcohol	13%
Product Code	A020W00519
UPC	No Jan
Inventory	In Stock (28)

Owning & Enjoying

Tasting notes

Pairing

Butter poached lobster tail or risotto with in-season corn, smoked bacon and seared Atlantic scallops would make ideal pairings for this elegant Chardonnay.

Cellaring

Enjoy through 2030

Press

94Wineanorak (Jamie Goode)

This is bold, textural and rich with some fine spices, a touch of nuttiness, and broad pear and white peach fruit. There’s depth here, but also a spicy frill that brings out the freshness to counter the rich fruit and oak flavours. Supple and bright with a nice juicy finish. Lovely complexity and weight here. Very stylish

95WineAlign

John Szabo, MS The superlatives flowed effortlessly while tasting this 2019 Felseck in a retrospective vertical line up that stretched back to 2013. It was very recently bottled and of course not yet released, but this preview was enough to deeply excite. The vintage was cool overall, leading to a banging, sharp, tight, very citric wine, energetic though not austere, with lean and tightly screwed down palate. Oak is a very modest influence, and length is simply terrific. Even in embryonic stage, the greatness of this wine is unmistakable. I'd speculate a drinking window that opens sometime around 2024, and stay open into the early-mid-'30s without a stretch. One of Canada's best chardonnays to date, and in price context, extraordinary value.

95WineAlign

Michael Godel Felseck sits at 37.59 North, a latitude working in cohorts with an escarpment’s nook and the lake laying low below. Tasted as part of an #14c21 seven year vertical Felseck Vineyard retrospective. No stirring, “I don’t like bâtonnage,” tells winemaker Jay Johnston, “unless I’m trying to get a wine to dry.” Never mind the lees aeration or the emulsification because texture in this ’19 is extraordinary to behold, gliding across the palate with Bench orchard fruit cleverness, penetrating perspicacity and juices running through unblemished flesh. Tighter and taut than ’18, while seemingly improbable but here yet unwound, far from the pinnacle at which point full expression will surely ache to be. The ’18 may be a beautiful thing but the ’19 is structured, manifold in destiny and ideal for those who know, or at least think they do. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted July 2021.

Production

Viticulture

Harvest Date: October 21st & 25th, 2019
Brix at harvest: 20.6
Brix Average Blend and grape source: 100% organically certified estate Chardonnay from the Felseck Vineyard, exclusively sourced from heritage plantings from 1992.

Vinification

pH: 3.34
Residual Sugar: 1.78g/L
T.A. 6.65g/L
Bottling Date: June 14, 2021
Oak regime: 100% French Oak, 27% New Oak, 27% 2nd Fill with the balance in neutral.
Vine Age: 27yrs.
Time in barrel: 14 months Un-fined. Unfiltered. Certified Organic by Pro-Cert

A delayed harvest allowed for additional ‘hang time’ in 2019, meaning the most expressive and balanced flavours were captured. Sourced exclusively from a heritage block of East-West aligned rows, the fruit is hand-picked, sorted and then wholecluster pressed to capture the purest juice. After a brief settling, the juice is racked to barrel and fermentation is allowed to occur naturally. Following initial ageing of 9 months the wine is blended then returned to a mix of 228L oak barriques and 283L stainless steel barrels for an additional 5 months to give the wine a balanced expression – capturing both fruit and textural elements from the extended élevage. Following a period of ageing in stainless steel tank the wine was bottled unfined & unfiltered in June 2021.

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.

Customer Reviews