2012 Wine and Herb: Good friends, fine wine and a baby (Part 2)

Two weeks ago I told you lovelies about our first trip out  for this year’s  Wine and Herb. Onto part 2! We got some beautiful weather this time around as well and no one could complain about some wine and food pairings. Our group was a bit smaller this time and Olympic Limousine  chauffereued us around in a 10 passenger limo.  Once again great service and unfortunately a few hickups with the GPS. Though we did manage to pop by 15 wineries (we went back to Niagara College Winery to pick up some brews!). This did mean that we hit all but ONE of the participating  wineries this year… Cattail Creek we’ll be sure to see you next year! We also went on a Sunday during the long  weekend, which meant that wineries were busy and traffic was occasionally at a standstill, yes even in Niagara on the lake. This time around we seemed to be impressed by the food, unimpressed by most of the wines and subjected to quite a bit of attitude at a few wineries (busy weekend I suppose? Disgruntled workers unable to enjoy  the long weekend with their own families and friends?).

As for the Little Monkey, she was on her best behaviour once again. The Bjorn and a well stocked cooler of breast milk and food made for a very smooth journey.

Here are the highlights from our second run :

Diamond Estates

From what we gathered, these guys bought 20 Bees recently and also have a few other brands under their umbrella such as Dan Aykroyd, Fresh and  Lakeview Cellars to name a few.  The 2007 Sauvignon Blanc was served too warm (we mentioned this to server and she said she just took  the bottle out of the fridge..hmm) and the Oregano Foccacia bread was  extremely dry with barely any oregano flavour. For me this was a definite miss. The food and wine both were relatively bland and without much of a finish.

Hillebrand  Winery

A perfectly  warm coriander, ginger  and carrot soup was paired with the 2010  Artist  Series Limited Edition Gewürztraminer. The pairing was beautiful and I preferred the wine with the food, vs. the wine on it’s own. The soup lent for a very creamy and  well balanced citrusy finish. At the tasting bar we paid for a sampling of a few wines and a new find was a fun cocktail. Ever thought about mixing a sparkling wine and icewine? Do it! Makes for a great cocktail, especially if you’re not a fan of an overly sweet icewine.

Hinterbrook Estate Winery

Another great new find (and the many bottles purchased here are proof of this!). A 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon was paired with a pesto flat bread topped with pecans and salt. Umm.. delicious! The salty and nutty toppings really hit the spot and was one of my favourite pairings  this time. The wine was bold, spicy and had a great all round finish. We picked up a few of their Pinot  Noirs at $25 per bottle, definitely a worthy purchase.

Joseph’s Estate Wines

Aright I’ve never had a good experience here. Never. I’ve spoken to many people (including some who work in the area) and they confirmed that they too struggle with their experiences here. Well I figured we should still visit them since they were on  our route and there’s always hope of improvement. Lemon and thyme crumble squares were paired with an equally sour (umm is this wine  bad?!!) 2007 VQA Riesling. The server mentioned over and over again that this wine had “won many many awards”. When questioned on what award exactly (and who on earth would award anything positive to this wine?) I got no reply. I was told to email ‘upstairs as they would know the award’. I was also ushered to a dusty cabinet lined with old bottles and medals and asked to search for this vintage and varietal up there. Umm.. yes I highly doubt that this particular wine would be up there, gathering dust for the past ten years. Though that might  explain the sour notes and musty nose! One member in our group decided to pay and sample a few wines in the hopes of finding one that they liked, only to wait five minutes without any service. There were two servers meandering about cleaning and having a casual chat with another patron, but not once did they acknowledge the wait or offer assistance. Sorry Joseph’s once again you failed to deliver. Those lemon dessert squares were delicious but the wine and the customer service also left a sour tone.

Konzelmann  Estate Winery

On arrival we were immediately berated to take one ‘biscoit’. We were definitely taken aback…not like we’d even think about taking more than one, and besides we’d like to learn more about the pairing! Well after a bit of probing and testing things out we gathered that a burnt honey and lavender biscoti was paired with a 2010 late harvest  Gewürztraminer. So our server was definitely not the friendliest and had some attitude, probably had some tough groups come through before us. At the main bar we encountered friendly service and sampled a couple of reds so we left the  place with a better view of Konzelmann than when we entered. Phew!

Maleta  Estate Winery

We loved this cute little ‘hut’ during our 2010 visit and couldn’t wait to be back. Unfortunately this time around the owner wasn’t there but once again we got a warm reception. On arrival we were offered a 2009  rosé whilst we waited for the featured 2008 Grape Brain Riesling and the cheese with pineapple sage marmalade (made by the owner) on a crostini. The pairing was delicious, 2010 they had a lavender honey paired with the cheese.. I still dream of that. The wine on it’s own, was so-so but I’d highly recommend pulling out a bottle if you’re offering some strong or sweet cheese combos.

Palatine Hills Estate Winery

This was  one busy place, mainly due to the fabulous weather and picnic benches placed right at the entrance.  Great outdoorsy/barn like feeling. Unfortunately for us, the room where we were served had a strong whiff of manure. We soon forgot about the smell when the very unusual combo of 2008 Neufeld Vineyard Chardonnay (oaked for 6 months) was brought out with some… ice cream! Yes ice cream..25C day what could be better? The ice cream had an anise caramel sauce and was topped with a few chocolate cannonballs. All in all the pairing ensured that we had a mild liquorice flavour without it being overwhelming (which is easy to do with anise).  I must admit that we soon forgot about the wine and focused on the liquorice ice cream and those chocolate covered candy (cannonballs).

Pillitteri  Estates Winery

These guys always have such fun names for their wines…this time the 2010 Straight Up White, (a  Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling blend) was paired with bergamot cupcakes. The cupcakes were made by an employee who also owns a tea house (bergamot is  a key ingredient in earl grey teas). The cute little cupcakes had the perfect balance of tea flavouring and paired extremely well with the sweet white wine. Oddly enough the  wine was sweet but the cupcakes weren’t!  Match made in heaven.

PondView Estates Winery

A 2010 Cabernet Merlot  was paired with one of my favourite herbs..Garlic! The garlic was used to make a lamb and lentil stew that was served in a wonton cup. The bold and spicy red is a perfect match for meats and strong cheese and so it was no surprise that it paired extremely well with the food on offer. A balanced and long finish  are characteristic of many wines on offer at  PondView.

Southbrook Vineyards

Ever had the urge to have some vino with your chips? Well.. no neither did I.. until now. These guys surprised us with  their pairing of a 2011 Triomphe  Cabernet  France Rosé with some home-made rosemary flavoured crisps served in a traditional paper bag and accompanied by a chive blossom dip. This was probably the most surprising pairing for us and each and every one of us was impressed. Let’s just say that many a future bbq will now have crisps and  rosé on feature. Very well done!

Stonechurch Vineyards

A 2009 Sauvignon Blanc was paired with a tabouleh (which had parsley as it’s main base). To be honest, not much to be said here. The wine was  slightly sour once again and pairing was so-so. Had the wine been chilled a bit more, we might have had a refreshing mouth feel which would have been a perfect complement to a crunchy and nutty salad.

Strewn Winery

Another Sauvignon Blanc (2008) was paired with a very refreshing feta and asparagus  mint salad. We scuffed it down FAST. Luckily I remembered to take a picture two bites in! The salad was the main feature and  the mint was very forward which meant that a mild and subtle wine was called for. Good thing the wine of feature was just that! The slight citrus notes made for a great combination.

Sunnybrook Farm  Estate Winery

These peeps are known for their fruit wines and I know many who are huge fans of this winery. Unfortunately in previous years I’ve had the worst service and experience and so I  wasn’t sure what to expect. Lucky for me (and the winery!) I had a great time here! A peach blossom wine (which had a funny damp nose) was paired with a super fleshy fig coated in a ginger honey.  DIVINE! I love figs and absolutely detest peaches and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this pairing. There was a slightly bitter finish  to the wine but the ginger honey ensured that there was a perfect balance overall.

Coyote’s Run

This was our final stop and we were three minutes late in arriving here (cut  off  time for Wine and Herb is 5 p.m.). But hey.. three minutes..that’s not so  bad right? Well they made a bit of a fuss but agreed to serve us. Unfortunately they were running out of the pork but they still  tried their best to whip up a  few pulled pork tortillas (which tasted slightly fishy!)  with a lemon grass mango salsa. This was paired with the 2010 Five Mile White, a riesling, pinot blanc and Gewürztraminer  blend. The wine  was refreshing and had a bit of a Mediterranean flair to it, the  mango salsa  definitely helped bring out notes of pineapple and lemon.

We ended back at Niagara College, to pick up some brews and catch some  rays on their lush garden. Dinner was at the golf club, a mix experience here, with fantastic burgers, surprising kidney steaks (yes streaks made with ONLY kidneys!) and a super well done rib eye steak when a medium rare one was requested. The second visit for 2012 was just as much fun as the first one, our wine cellar is a few bottles richer and yes we’re  thinking ahead to 2013 already!