Freezing Winter, Èlevage in PEC, Local & International Winemaker Dinners
Many have asked how our vines have survived this horrific cold winter. Very simply, we’ve been hilling up our vineyards with soil each year for over 20 years. Burying the plant guarantees that the buds survive even if we get down to -35º (as we did in 2015). While laying down 4 canes per plant, hilling up in the winter and hilling down in the spring is a relatively arduous task, it is a small cost/investment to make when you have the best limestone/clay terroir in the New World to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
On March 4th and 5th I will be on the run hosting very special winemaker dinners at both locations of The French – in Cambridge on March 4th and in Hamilton on March 5th. These will be fun, unpretentious evenings where I will be pairing some of our most special wines with their delicious locally inspired menus. Spots for both evenings will be limited.
Join us over the weekend of March 14th/15th as PEC Wines hosts the annual Élevage Winter Wine Festival. 13 wineries will be hosting unique elevated tasting experiences. On Sunday, March 15th at 12pm I will be leading an in-depth, back-vintage vertical tasting of six of our Chardonnays. Both current and older vintages will be tasted and available for purchase. The wines will be paired with our house-cured and cold-smoked Ontario trout and locally baked focaccia. Spots are very limited (12) for this experience, click here for tickets.
In January, our wines were once again exceptionally well received at the Wine Professional conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In a few weeks I’ll head to Belgium for spring portfolio tastings with our importer Vinetiq. Bookending these tastings, I will be pouring our wines at winemaker dinners for two of Belgium’s most highly acclaimed, two-Michelin Star restaurants – Cuchara and The Jane. This is a great honour for us and an amazing opportunity to work with Europe’s top chefs and sommeliers. Enclosed is a video The Jane put together to tempt you to fly over for one or even both dinners, which are sure to be incredible experiences.
While you may not make it to Europe, all of our wines – fresh spring favourites (Calcaire, Cuvée Tornado, Gewürztraminer), crisp Chardonnays, elegant Pinot Noirs and gutsy Cabernet Francs – are available to ship directly from our cellar to your door across Canada via our online store. Free shipping is available and mixed cases welcome.
The winery remains open daily year-round! With our pizza oven re-opening sometime in late April (date TBD), our hearty winter food program is currently available 7 days a week. Serving piping hot lasagnas, classic French onion soup, fresh East Coast oysters, cold-smoked local trout and toasted warm focaccia and sourdough. Seating is available inside our cozy barrel chamber or outdoors next to roaring fire pits. No reservations required, walk-ins welcomed. Visit our website or Instagram (@normanhardiewinery) for up-to-date hours. We look forward to welcoming you!
