69th Birthday

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Most years it seems we're out of the country for my birthday. And most years Kate, as designated driver, takes me on a tour of local wineries where ever we might be travelling. This year, like everyone else, we're not travelling. But that doesn't mean we can't continue the tradition.

Kate arranged a wine tasting for my birthday at Fielding Estates near Grimbsby (it's on the Beamsville Bench in the Niagara wine country). Fielding Estates is one of the "F'ing Wineries" — Featherstone and Flat Rock being the others. She had booked this back in the fall. Since the COVID-19 crisis, which began last year just as we returned from Texas, this winery has had these neat little geodesic domes set up outside where you can socially distance but still enjoy the sun, something to nosh on and some fine wine. Unfortunately, back in February, when it was my birthday the wine area was completely locked down because of the virus. She rebooked and we went over on Saturday. This was our first adventure out of the house in a very long time. We put gas in Kate's car on the way — the first fill up this year!

It's a little over two hours from here to the winery and we got there in good time having planned an extra half hour. Since it was my birthday Kate insisted on being the designated driver; I was the designated drinker, she limited her tastings. We got there early and were advised that we'd have to wait until our 1:00pm appointment — they have to wipe things down and let the dome air out for a half hour between customers to keep things safe. Some domes had comfy chairs and sofas in a lounging setup. Ours was a table with 6 chairs in a dining style. We could have brought some friends with us but we're not comfortable with doing so yet. All our friends agreed that going to this event would be safe enough, some even encouraged us to visit a few of the other wineries. We'll do that another day.

We had our reserved dome (you need to book ahead and it costs $20) from 1:00pm until 2:30pm. We ordered a cheese tray with several extras and sampled all of their white wines (that included a Rose). That was a flight of 7 wines, 2oz each that we shared. I was particularly impressed by their two Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend they call White Conception (the name doesn't do justice and doesn't tell you enough about what to expect). From our Australian adventures we've had a lot of "Sem/Sauv"; it's a pretty much a "go to" blend there; it's also a common Bordeaux blend. All of these wines are well worth enjoying; however they do command a wine boutique price. We ended up buying several of their Rose which were more in my price range. 

We shared two cheeses (Gunn's Hill Handeck and Cows XO Aged Cheddar — both impressive and presented as huge blocks) with some crostini (we ordered extra), some Greaves Marmalade, Garlic & Red Pepper Olives (a whole jar!) and some crackers. There was more than enough for us to munch on as we enjoyed our wines for our allotted one hour and a half. After the white tasting we ordered a glass of their 2016 Syrah and their 2017 Rock Pile Chardonnay. Again Kate only tasted, while I finished them off. Kate encouraged me to sample a flight of their 6 reds but instead I just tried a glass of the one. We added a bottle of their Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay to our take home bag — that's six wines we took home.

The experience in the dome is pretty slick. As you can see from the photos they're clear vinyl and quite large. You're zippered in and given instructions to help manage the virus. E.g. we were required to wear a mask when ever a server entered and we had a paging device to summon the server when needed. It was a sunny day and quite warm within the dome. There was an electric space heater but it wasn't needed when the sun was out. Mind you it cooled very quickly when the sun went behind the clouds. There are zippered windows and a door to keep out the cold. It was quite comfy, we actually looked them up on the web thinking that we might enjoy having a dome on our deck.

It was a lovely day spent together. An especially nice gift for my birthday from my Sweet Baboo. We enjoy Niagara wines and miss our adventures in the wine country. When things return to normal later this year (touch wood) we'll be back.

Kate remarked that it's been a year with us at home every night (modulo a couple of hospital visits for each of us).