The Globe and Mail Waters on wine
Dave Sheppard, a founding Canadian winemaker in Niagara, prepares to step back from his role at Flat Rock Published April 14, 2021
Handout
Having made wine for the past 40 years, including some of the first chardonnays, pinot noirs and ice wines produced in Canada, Dave Sheppard is ready to step back. Since joining Flat Rock Cellars in Jordan, Ont., in 2017, the veteran vintner explains that part of his job was to ensure a seamless succession for assistant winemaker Allison Findlay.
A native of nearby St. Catharines, Ont., Sheppard says he fell into the wine trade while backpacking around Europe after graduation from the University of Waterloo. He ran out of money six months into his travels and was hired at small family-run riesling producer in the Mittelrhein region of Germany in 1980, where his interest in wine blossomed.