Patrick Chan takes on a tasty new challenge
Canadian figure-skating champion admits he’s no wine expert, but he has an appreciation for the Riesling from Niagara that bears his name
As a 24-year-old athlete, Patrick Chan admits he doesn’t know a whole lot about vino.
“I drink wine at dinner, but I can’t tell you what my favourite wine is at the moment,” he told reporters on a conference call Friday.
Then, in the kind of quick recovery you would expect of a three-time worldchampion figure skater and Olympic silver medallist, Chan added: “My personal favourite is Riesling.”
And, with that, Chan launched his new icewine, On Ice, in partnership with Flat Rock Cellars of Jordan, Ont. His namesake bottle is a 2013 Riesling from the Niagara Peninsula.
Chan, who just returned to the rink after taking a season off to try bold new adventures, including skydiving, figured it was the right time to dip his toe pick into wine country.
“It’s a whole different world from figure skating,” Chan said. “It’s surreal, to be honest.”
He first thought of launching a table wine, as former Canadian figure-skating champ Elvis Stojko already did with his own cabernet sauvignon and merlot brands.
But then Chan realized that icewine was a better fit for his career.
He said that, despite his lack of expertise in the world of wine, he was very much involved in choosing the sweet drink known more as a dessert wine, testing several batches at the 10-year-old Flat Rock winery before landing on the perfect one for him.
“It’s subtle, and I think that complements my skating perfectly,” Chan noted.
He says he was also very much involved in choosing the label, which bears his name but not his picture, and has a gold maple leaf and a swirl pattern that look like the marks made by skating circles on ice.
“It’s a great fit. What cinched it for me was that Patrick knew exactly what he wanted,” said Flat Rock president Ed Madronich.
“He had a real focus on . . . what he wanted to achieve.”
Of course, Chan follows in the footsteps of other Canadian sports celebrities who have put their names on wines, including Wayne Gretzky and Mike Weir.
Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, said the new wine will have “curiosity value” initially, but only time will tell if the venture has legs.
He said it’s smart for athletes to launch celebrity-branded items while their careers are still hot, because “you’re only as good as your last jump on the ice.”
As for Chan, he says so far, “it’s been a great journey. I’ve learned a lot.”
Madronich says he has plans to launch the wine in the LCBO this fall and expects to make On Ice, which retails for $34.95, available eventually across Canada and internationally. They are also hoping to produce red and white table wines under Chan’s name.