Flat Rock was part of a new wave of estate producers that launched in 2003 with a dedicated focus on pinot noir and chardonnay.Supplied
Wine is a generational business where wineries around the world operated by the third, fourth or even fifth generation aren’t uncommon. Flat Rock Cellars in Jordan, Ont., meanwhile, is quietly celebrating its 20th anniversary, using the milestone as a chance to reflect and build for the future.
Bucking the established trend for Niagara vineyards to plant small amounts of several grape varieties to offer consumers a wide assortment of wines, Flat Rock was part of a new wave of estate producers that launched in 2003 with a dedicated focus on pinot noir and chardonnay. Others included Le Clos Jordanne and Hidden Bench, which also started producing premium single vineyard pinot and chardonnay that year, while like-minded Tawse produced its first wines in 2001.
“When we planted half of the vineyard to pinot in 2001, people thought we were frigging crazy. Thinking we could do great things with pinot was a real leap at that time,” explained Ed Madronich, whose family bought the land in Jordan in 1999. Grape vines were planted in 2000, 2001 and 2004, with strong focus on pinot noir (50 per cent), chardonnay (30 per cent) and riesling (17 per cent). (Small amounts of gewürztraminer and syrah were also planted.)
“We knew that this was a good place to grow grapes when my dad and I bought it, but we didn’t know it was this special,” says Madronich.
The strong pinot noir focus yielded the design and construction of an ultra-modern, five-storey gravity flow winery set into the side of the escarpment, with two six-sided buildings linked by a bridge. The tasting room offers a panoramic view of the 32-hectare estate. On a clear day, the view looks over Lake Ontario to the Toronto skyline.
The Madronich family hired Australian winemaker Darryl Brooker to come and open the winery. Brooker, who had worked at Villa Maria Estate in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand and Mountadam Vineyards in Barossa Valley, Australia, thought the winery was based in California during the interview process. His arrival helped establish Flat Rock on firm footing, especially when it came to bottling all the wines with screw cap closures instead of traditional cork closures. (Villa Maria had converted more than a million cases of wine to screw cap bottles in 2000, believing it was the best quality closure available.)
Over the years, Marlize Beyers, Ross Wise, Jay Johnston, Allison Findlay, and current winemaker, Hayley Thompson, all had their first head winemaker jobs at Flat Rock.
Flat Rock also stood out from the new passionate producers by concentrating its efforts on making great wines that were also affordable for consumers. The early vintages sold for less than $20 a bottle. Twenty years later, it sells for $24.95 per bottle in Ontario and Quebec, and under $30 in various wine shops in Alberta.
“Our focus is to make a killer riesling for under $20, killer chardonnays and pinot noirs for $25 now, which is still unbelievable value,” Madronich explains.
Plans are under way to add more hospitality space on the property, including an enclosed deck area nestled into the vineyard that will allow the winery to host guests from spring to late fall.
“We need to be really focused on who we are at Flat Rock Cellars to be able to celebrate this place and deliver an experience that is inspirational and educational,” Madronich continued. “That’s the core of what we do, it’s in our pricing, it’s in our quality, and it’s in the way we talk about wine so we can give the customer confidence about the quality of Ontario wine.”