Ferox by Fabian Reis winery wants to become an estate winery with secondary uses, but with only 4.27 hectares and a second property in play, the plan is facing hurdles and some confusion from the town.
In 2018, owners Fabian and Stephanie Reis and Coun. Erwin Wiens acquired Rancourt Winery (now Ferox) and Harvest Barn (which later became Alitura Fine Foods and Market) at 1829 Concession 4 Rd., the corner of East and West Line.
By 2021, the town approved the farm winery to sell on-site wine from its 18.5-square-metre retail store.
Wiens no longer has an ownership in any of the properties.
The town’s minimum lot size for an estate winery is eight hectares, while Ferox is a little more than half that size, with a retail barn for sales and tastings and a barn for producing wine.
The planned expansion would include an expanded 43-square-metre hospitality room in the production building, a 133-square-metre outdoor hospitality patio and a 26-square-metre commercial kitchen, said senior town planner Victoria Nikoltcheva.
Estate wineries are allowed to have hospitality rooms that serve food, but can’t use commercial kitchens to cook it without a site-specific allowance.
For farm wineries — which Ferox is currently subject to — zoning does not allow for any food to be served whatsoever.
Turning Ferox into an estate winery would allow the Reises to add food service in hospitality spaces and, only with an amendment, allow them to use commercial cooking equipment to prepare that food.
Robert Smit, a planner with NPG Planning Solutions, who was hired by Ferox, said this “aligns with practices at other approved Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries.”
NPG had a planning justification report prepared which lists 11 of such approved wineries, including Pellar, Jackson Triggs and Two Sisters.
Smit said the winery does not currently comply with its farm winery status. It currently serves food options and operates cooking equipment.
They want to add a 12-seat hospitality room (43 sq. m) and a commercial kitchen (26 sq. m) in the production barn.
It’s unclear what the current size of the kitchen and hospitality areas are. Neither Stephanie or Fabian Reis were available for an interview to answer questions before press time.
Smit said the winery is already compliant with estate winery regulations, using “predominantly” locally grown grapes, keeping the rural look and handling crushing, fermenting and bottling on-site. It also has direct road access and off-street parking.
Zoning does not allow for any off-site grapes to be used in wine production for farm wineries — which Ferox is currently subject to.
Essentially, that means the winery is not in compliance with its farm winery status. It is unclear whether the winery is currently operating as an estate winery.
Smit said proposal complies with the Greenbelt Plan, the Planning Act, the Provincial Planning Statement, agriculture ministry guidelines and regional/town planning documents.
Smit said an estate winery designation would boost agri-tourism near Old Town and improve economic viability for the winery.
The Reises owning the property at 1822 Niagara Stone Rd. (formerly Harvest Barn) across the street makes things more complicated.
The Harvest Barn property currently holds estate winery zoning. However it was only approved in conjunction with the operation of the Ferox property (1829 Concession 4 Rd.).
Essentially, the request is to give Ferox estate winery status while removing the clause of conjunction between the two properties.
The Harvest Barn property was listed for rent after the closure of Alitura, a bakery started in 2021 and owned by Fabian and Stephanie Reis. It closed less than a year later.
Coun. Maria Mavridis questioned why the zoning change should be allowed if 1822 Niagara Stone Rd. is no longer to be included in the total acreage.
“Two properties were combined in order to allow for the total acreage that is required to have an estate winery and now we are going to sever the two properties?” asked Coun. Maria Mavridis.
Jesse Auspitz, principal planner with NPG Planning Solutions, said the proposal “does not deal with the Harvest Barn site” and that it is “a topic for another conversation.”
Coun. Andrew Niven clarified that Ferox wants to unlink the two properties and create an estate winery at the Ferox site, without the acreage from the Harvest Barn site being factored into the equation.
Ferox is asking the town for a resolution because there’s not have enough land without combining the two properties.
But if Ferox becomes an estate winery and 1822 Niagara Stone Rd. is already zoned as one, the town’s regulations won’t allow two estate wineries.
When asked if other wineries in NOTL do not meet the size requirement, Nikoltcheva said she expects to be able to provide more details in the upcoming staff report after further review.
Next up for Ferox is providing a recommendation report to council, submitting a site plan amendment, and finally, meeting the conditions for site plan approval, she said.Â