Pudgy's Space: Day 4 - getting lost in Beamsville

after my brief stay in Cambridge, i drove all the way back to Niagara to finish my tour of wine country. this time, my focus was on the Beamsville Bench region. my first stop was Henry of Pelham. according to eugene, this was a winery that i should go see. so i set my gps to find the winery but when i got to my destination, it turned out to be an empty field. Henry of Pelham isn't a new winery so i was expecting an elaborate tasting room and entry way. but i followed the gps and followed the signs but it led me to nowhere. i could not find the winery for the life of me! what's funny is, i spoke to my friend Justin at Pillitteri and he told me that he too has never been able to find Henry of Pelham - and he lives in the Niagara region! :) so it's not just me.

after wasting so much time, i gave up and decided to continue looking for other wineries in the area. i manage to find 13th Street Winery, Flat Rock Cellars, Sue Ann Staff, and Hidden Bench Vineyards before heading to my next hotel. i didn't spend much time tasting at these wineries though. why? well, after tasting the cabernet franc at Vinelands, i decided to go on a mission to taste a bunch of cabernet francs from other wineries. and my luck started to run out after failing to find Henry of Pelham because when i stopped in at 13th Street, no cab franc. i moved on to Flat Rock Cellars - no cab franc. the kind folks at Flat Rock suggested i try Sue Ann Staff down the road. i got to Sue Ann Staff's tasting room and there was nobody there to greet visitors. so i left. i headed off to find Hidden Bench - my other must visit.

there were no visitors so i had time to chat with the lady behind the tasting bar. we went through a number of their wines. i tried their "lightly oaked" chardonnay, riesling, meritage, and rose. their wines are actually quite good but i was most impressed with their rose. i'm not a fan of roses because the roses i've had were usually pink coloured pinot gris .. very acidic. but the rose by Hidden Bench had a beautiful aroma of ripe strawberries. it even tasted like it on the palate. i was so impressed that i actually bought one. i was least impressed with the tasting fee - $10 for 3 samples. most wineries charge a fee and deduct it from your wine purchase. at Hidden Bench, they deduct the $10 only if you buy three bottles. yikes! so my $20 roses became a $30 rose. ugh .. oh well. just once. never again.