Hidden Bench Estate Winery

The Free Bacchus Story

Harald Thiel ran an audiovisual business with his brother, sold it, and bought a vineyard. Locust Lane on the Beamsville Bench came first, in 2003; Rosomel followed in 2004 and Felseck in 2007. Hidden Bench makes its wine only from fruit grown on those estate vineyards.

The three sites cover 8.5, 9.2 and 13.8 hectares. Felseck, the largest, takes its name from the German for corner of the cliff, after a turn in the Niagara Escarpment beside it, and its first vines went in in 1992.

All of the vineyards have been certified organic by Pro-Cert since 2013, and most of the work goes into the soil. Thiel told the writer Jamie Goode in 2022 that the estate spreads 500 tons of compost a year, brought in and dosed with biodynamic preparations, and that soil organic matter had risen by 0.3 per cent since the vineyards went organic.

The 2018 Felseck Vineyard Chardonnay was named Best in Show at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards, one of the Chardonnays Decanter singled out that year alongside wines from Margaret River, Baden and Nelson. The winery describes the current release as toasted citrus, poached pear and acacia blossom, then nectarine and oyster shell with a flinty, struck-match edge.