I took some time in early December to stock up on some bottles to get me through the holidays. I made a visit to Flat Rock to see what’s new. The bottles from this winery were a clear highlight from this year. So I was excited to see what was new here.
2017 Pinot Noir – $19.15 – **** – Flat Rock is the benchmark in value for Pinot Noir in Ontario. It’s hard to believe that this is a sub twenty dollar bottle of wine – and even more so given that 2017 was an extremely challenging vintage across the board for Niagara. The aromas offer a nice earthiness with a hint of anise. This wine is a little brooding and heavy on the palate – but it doesn’t sit there for long. The fruit flavours are ripe red cherry, a bit of cranberry – and while everything is ripe this is met with bright acidity.
2014 Gravity – $35.15 – ****+ – Focused, Elegant, and Complex – There is so much going on in this bottle it’s hard to know where to start. The aromas offer rich black cherry, and spring forest floor. The palate is heavy and brooding and the weight from the nose follows through on the palate. The fruit then turns to violet and this floral note lingers until it’s met by a solid acid backbone.
2017 Rusty Shed – $27.15 – ****½ – I have spent much of 2018 in love with the Rusty Shed – it looks like 2019 my love affair with this wine is going to continue. The balance in this wine checks every box in what that word means for a wine. The fruit flavours offer orchard fruit that are met with a perfectly integrated baking spice and vanilla thanks to masterful use of oak. When you take a sip of this wine you expect it to invade your mouth and just sit around forever – but you’re then met with elegant and graceful acidity. I really want to keep a few bottles in my house to let this evolve in bottle but I doubt I’ll have the restraint because this is drinking so well right now.
2017 Ultra Pinot Noir – $65.20 – ****½ – This was an unexpected pleasure to get a chance to taste this very small batch of wine from Flat Rock. Gravity and Rusty Shed have always occupied a high tier of wine in the Ontario Wine industry – so the Ultra tier is something new and exciting. So listen, I am always going to be an advocate for great wines that are affordable and delicious – but it’s great to see a winery like Flat Rock up the game. This is so plush and fruity I called it a cherrybomb in my notes. There’s some earth on the nose and on the palate – but it’s the endless concentration of flavours that makes this really exciting.
2017 Ultra Chardonnay – $65.20 – ****½ – I really shouldn’t be surprised that the step up from the Rusty Shed is an eyebrow raising, complex, and balanced bottle of Chardonnay. I have said many times that I have a hard time restraining myself from attacking my Rusty Shed from my wine collection – the price point on this bottle is enough to make sure that I keep my hands off it for a little while. But the real question – is it worth the price of admission? Most definitely yes. This is soft and balanced – there’s a nice mineral note layered from start to finish. The fruit is apple, orange, and a pushes right on tropical – which is unexpected given the challenging 2017 vintage. Elegant and delicious – count on finding a bottle or two of this in my collection for the next couple years when it’s ready to drink.
