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Hidden Bench Estate Chardonnay 2019

Canada, Ontario
Organic
Biodynamic
93 WA 93 Points (WineAlign)
93 WA 93 Points (WineAlign)

Hidden Bench is one of the premier Chardonnay producers in Canada, producing classily flavoured old-world chardonnays with beautiful struture as well.  Their 2018 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay was world's best at the 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
¥5,280  (incl. tax)

Hidden Bench is one of the premier Chardonnay producers in Canada, producing classily flavoured old-world chardonnays with beautiful struture as well.  Their 2018 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay was world's best at the 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 A020W00219
UPC 878102002017
Inventory In Stock (40)
Owning & Enjoying

Tasting notes

The nose opens to fresh green apples and pears, green almond, hints of toast, and wet stone. The palate is creamy, with a touch of spice and toast to compliment the fresh citrus and orchard fruit accords. High acidity and an enticing salinity come together to create a beautiful expression of cool climate Chardonnay. One to be savoured now, or aged 7-10 years.

Pairing

  • Serve Chardonnay with mild, buttery or creamy dishes.
  • Pair Chardonnay with meaty fish (halibut, cod) and shellfish (lobster, shrimp, crab, scallops.)
  • Pair Chardonnay with subtly flavored, simply seasoned poultry and pork dishes.
  • Foods that have toasty flavors, as from toasted nuts, pastry crust, – grilling or smoking.

Cellaring

Enjoy through 2030

Press
93WineAlign
John Szabo, MS  2019 is shaping up to be a glorious chardonnay (and pinot) vintage in Niagara, the cooler conditions lending a steely, minerally edge to the wines. It's rendered here by Hidden Bench into a chiseled wine with terrific relief and depth; I love the precision, the perfectly integrated wood influence, the genuine depth and complexity. I have to say, in an international context, this is one exceptional value chardonnay, easily equal, or superior to, wines at twice the price from more name brand regions. Length is really exceptional. Chapeau bas to the Hidden Bench team, also for the dedication to organic farming and low carbon footprint ethos. Best 2022-2030. Tasted in September 2021, and again blind at the National Wine Awards of Canada October 2021.
93WineAlign
Michael Godel Though just the early stages of knowing what 2019 means for Bench chardonnay the indicators and sensors are tingling with great anticipation and suspense. Something feels right, just and purposed in this Hidden Bench 2019, very much in line with the recently tasted Felseck, if milder and more open for business by way of comparison. Lovely gelid flow, waves of fluid motion, graceful and at the end of the day, how could it not be. Seriously though, where's the wood? Yes the past and current winemakers have and continue to make it so, but so do these remarkable blocks of terroir tucked and rolling within the nooks of the Escarpment. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted September 2021.
Production

Appellation

VQA Beamsville Bench

Viticulture

  • Harvest Dates: October 13 – Oct 24, 2019.
  • Brix: 20.8 Weighted Average.
  • Blend and grape source: 100% estate grown, organically certified Chardonnay from the Locust Lane, Felseck and Rosomel Vineyards.

Vinification

  • Alcohol: 13.0%
  • pH: 3.33
  • Residual Sugar: <2.0g/L
  • T.A. 6.12g/L
  • Bottling Date:  August 29, 2020
  • Oak regime: 5% Concrete Egg. 95% French Oak, of which 20% New Fill, 11% 2nd Fill, 22% 3rd Fill and balance neutral oak.  
  • Time in Concrete/Barrel: 9 months
  • Certified Organic by Pro-Cert 
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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