New Year’s Eve Celebration 2023
We were thrilled to host another annual New Year’s Eve wine pairing dinner and celebration. This year’s wine partner was Icellars Estate Winery – a small boutique winery located in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake. Founded in 2010 by the Icel family, it is known for small-batch wines produced from the farm and inspired by classic winemaking styles deeply rooted in the history of viticulture and winemaking. Icellars made an excellent partner for us for this event – they brought lots of fun and good energy. Their wines are bold, full of flavour and complexity, are fun to drink, and we made the food to match!
The evening began with a reception. Our guests arrived and enjoyed mingling and meeting each other while sampling our buffet of homemade pitas and grilled kofta, cucumber tahini yogurt sauce and pickled veggies.
The first course, paired with the Icellars 2019 Pinot Noir, was a melon salad with blackened fennel, arugula, shaved red onion and crispy smoked duck, with a mint, raki and white balsamic dressing.
Elmhirst’s Own Ribeye, paired with Icellars Arinna 2019, were the stars of the main course. The ribeye was rubbed with fenugreek, chilli powder and sumac, cooked over charcoal and served au jus with blackened tomatoes and onions. Served with rice pilaf with dried cranberries and kale.
The third course, paired with Icellars New Sparkling Wine, featured a citrus, saffron and honey goat cheese cheesecake with a pistachio and almond crust, finished with fresh apples and Elmhirst’s Own honey. This was the debut of the Icellars brand new sparkling wine. It’s first time poured anywhere, the Cuvee Elif 50 is named after and in honour of Elif Icel’s 50th birthday.
After dinner, guests could indulge in a dessert bar that included a Pomegranate Lokoum (Turkish delight), dark chocolate fudge, spiced candied nuts, warm red fife bread, and brie baked with apricot jam and brandy.
