On Saturday, November 28th Whispering Horse Winery is hosting a festive and COVID-safe wine release. They will be releasing their 2016 Sparkling Seyval Blanc (32 cases produced) along with two wines from their new ‘WILD’ line – the 2020 L’Acadie Pet-Nat (9 cases produced) and the 2019 L’Acadie Wild (11 cases produced). To ensure everyone’s safety, attendees are being asked to prebook one of the available hour-long time slots; each time slot will be limited to 25 guests.
After the release, the wines will be posted on their online shop on Sunday, November 29th for contactless pickup Saturday, December 5th at the winery between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to try the 2019 L’Acadie Wild and I am so looking forward to trying the rest of the lineup this weekend!
2019 L’Acadie Wild
The grapes for this wine were hand-harvested, gently crushed and then fermented using indigenous yeast. The wine was aged in stainless steel tanks for eight months and it is unfined and unfiltered; nothing added, nothing removed.
After three hours in the decanter there are aromas of rhubarb, lemon, herbaceous notes and minerality. This a dry, medium bodied wine with medium+ acidity. The palate offers more rhubarb, baking apples, pear, almond, minerality, lemon and even hints of spice with a long finish.
Proprietor, Melissa Giesbrecht, suggested pairing the 2019 L’Acadie Wild with mussels in a rich, creamy, apple and bacon broth, and she was spot-on. I served the mussels with linguini and made a sauce from crème fraîche, bacon and apples. This dish really brought out the briny notes in the wine and highlighted its lemon flavours.
Mussels and Linguini in a Bacon, Apple and Crème Fraîche Sauce
Ingredients
Serves 4
3 strips of bacon, finely chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 celery stalk, finely diced
½ a Braeburn apple, or another starchy apple, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tsp thyme, leaves removed from stems and chopped finely
¾ cup dry white wine
250ml crème fraîche
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
½ a lemon, juiced
170g dry linguini
454g cooked, frozen mussels
Grated parmesan cheese
Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions, then set aside.
Meanwhile, heat frying pan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until browned, about five minutes. Add butter, then celery, apple, garlic and shallot, cooking for 5-7 minutes until softened. Stir in the thyme as well as the wine, and simmer until the wine is almost evaporated. Add the crème fraîche and stir until combined. Stir in the parsley. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
Reheat mussels according to package directions.
Toss slightly more than half of the sauce with the pasta, tossing the remaining sauce with the reheated mussels. Divide the pasta between four plates and portion the mussels on top. Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.
Serve with grilled sourdough bread and enjoy with a glass (or two) of the 2019 L’Acadie Wild.
Whispering Horse Winery
43721 Vedder Mountain Rd, Chilliwack, V2R 4C5
1-604-245-0443
Oh wow, this recipe and wine pairing looks fantastic! Well done!
Thank you! If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! 🥂