If only you could see the beautiful view while listening to Andrea Morris chat with Flat Rock owner Ed Mardonich! It’s a stunning location with beautiful wines, named for the abundance of flat rocks they discovered while doing drainage for the vineyard. During our tasting, Ed challenges our preconceived notions of wine tasting and we taste red wines before whites. It really is a much better way to enjoy a tasting. Ed also sheds some light on how the number of taste buds on your tongue detect differences in taste. We also touch on how sustainability and community are very important to Flat Rock while tasting the Good Karma chardonnay. 100% of the proceeds from this wine go directly to Feed Ontario. Now you can drink wine for a good cause while listening to this episode!

Produced by Lukas Sluzar, recorded March 12, 2025

Show notes: www.flatrockcellars.com

Wines sampled: 2023 Foundation Pinot Noir, 2020 Gravity Pinot Noir, 2021 Rusty Shed Chardonnay, 2023 Good Karma Chardonnay, 2023 Nadja’s Vineyard Riesling, 2015 Nadja’s Vineyard Riesling

In this episode we travel slightly above the Niagara escarpment for a chat with Wescott’s winemaker Casey Kulczik. Wescott is a winery that is keen on nurturing the micro flora and fauna on the property to produce wines that truly represent the place of where they are. Andrea and Casey start off their tasting with the Blanc de Noir from the Brilliant series. (a brilliant idea for sure!) It led to an interesting discussion about wild fermentation – describing the yeast as minions and the winemaker as Gru. Casey’s passion for winemaking is front and center in this episode and he also explains why vineyard always face north/south. You’ll definitely want to schedule a visit to Wescott after listening to this episode.

Produced by Lukas Sluzar. Recorded February 19, 2025

Show notes: www.westcottvineyards.com

Wines sampled: Brilliant Blanc de Noirs, 2021 Pinot Noir Butlers Grant old Vines, 2021 Pinot Noir Estate, 2022 Chardonnay Estate, 2021 Chardonnay Block 76, 2022 Chardonnay Butlers Grant Old Vines

Andrea had so much fun chatting with Ilia and Nadia Sawchuk, owners of Leaning Post Winery, that we had to extend the interview to a second episode. In Part 2, we taste the wonderful red wines we have to offer, starting off with two Pinot Noirs. Pinot Noir is a fussy grape to grow, but it’s a beautiful fruit that produces a full bodied wine with less alcohol content. Ilia refers to it as the Emo punk brother of Chardonnay, but Nadia and Andrea referred to it as the Pedro Pascal of wine. (YUM!) We chatted about the supportive wine community in the Bench reason, and discovered the story behind the winery name, Leaning Post. There are lots of laughs and more t-shirt slogans in this episode!

Produced by Lukas Sluzar. Recorded February 19, 2025

Show notes: www.leaningpostwines.com
Wines sampled: 2020 Pinot Noir Hemeris Vineyard, 2020 Pinot Noir Senchuk Vineyard, 2020 Syrah Keczan Vineyard, Cuvee Heritage Vintage 2020