Canadian Winery Spotlight: Flat Rock Cellars
Flat Rock Cellars' reputation has been built with Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir, which are grapes they've grown and championed for the past fifteen years - although that's not all they do well! I've had the pleasure of tasting wines from Flat Rock Cellars and writing about them a few times over the last twelve months, and today, I thought I'd write a few notes on some of their wines I haven't mentioned yet in recent posts. Hopefully, this sheds more light on the Jordan bench winery.
The Rusty Shed Chardonnay is named in homage to an old shed that stands in the middle of their stunning 80-acre vineyard. It showcases the vineyard’s best parcels of Chardonnay. The grapes are pressed as whole bunches and the juice is barrel fermented. With the nature of barrel fermenting, this wine is aged and stirred on the lees, which adds richness and nutty complexities. As the wine matures, the barrels are tasted and the best are blended. The 2012 The Rusty Shed Chardonnay also won a gold medal from the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards. For a wine that has seen this much attention and love, the value it offers at $25 a bottle is hard to beat!
Flat Rock's 'Twisted' line gives winemaker Jay Johnston the chance to play with grape blends that are less conventional. The 2013 Seriously Twisted takes it one step further, blending two white grapes and a red grape: Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir. The juice from the Pinot Noir is pressed with little skin contact - the juice doesn't get a chance to pick up any red colour. This wine has a brilliant salmon gold hue. It's rich and perfumed with characters of apple, pear, and intense baking spice.
The grape behind the Rogue label changes from year to year. It’s a bottling where anything goes, the rules and established customs are broken, and each year, what's in the bottle is revealed when the wine is released. The Rogue is a tribute to Ed Madronich’s father, Ed Sr. The 2011 Rogue is 100% Syrah, made with an Old World, traditional mentality - it’s the kind of wine that wouldn’t be out of place in France’s Northern Rhône Valley. The juice was fermented at a slightly higher temperature to aid in extraction of colour and character. It then spent 20 months in a mix of new and old French barrels. It’s medium bodied (only 12.5% alcohol), in no way overly juicy or showy, yet has the concentration of pepper and savoury herb characters you find only in good Syrah.
Flat Rock Cellars is this month's featured winery for our Wine of the Month Club, so if you're still unfamiliar with them, it's the perfect time to acquaint yourself!! You only have until tomorrow to sign up to receive this month's selection of prestigious wines from Flat Rock Cellars. Sign up now to enjoy these delicious wines, along with product information and food pairing suggestions!
Jake Skakun is a writer and sommelier from Vancouver, currently living in Toronto. He can be found most days pulling corks and twisting caps at the Black Hoof. He Tweets and Instagrams @jakeskakun.
