Tasting Note:  This vineyard continues to produce some of the finest chardonnays in Niagara. I have tasted this vintage three times, most definitively in Dec 2025 among other Leaning Post chardonnays from the vintage, where this Grimsby Hillside showed more aromatic intensity, and fruit in-fill on the nose than its peers, with fine ripe yellow pear/peach and wildflowers nicely integrated with butterscotch, cream and brown spices. It is quite full bodied yet elegantly textured with very fine acid underpinning. To me this almost Corton Charlemagne-like textural sheen is the signature of Grimsby Hillside. Tasted in June 2026, it showed the same inner refinement, energy and creamy texture, perhaps partially due to the lower 12.5% alcohol. The finish shows some minerality and wood tannin. The length is excellent to outstanding. Very appealing now and it should drink very well for a decade.

Backgrounder: Winnipegger Ilya Senchuk had been making wine in Niagara for several years before he and his wife and business partner Nadia, purchased an old farmhouse and barn in Winona in 2011 and, with gusto, grew Leaning Post into one of Niagara’s most cherished and consistently excellent wineries. It is focused on finding fruit from great sites in Niagara, including their own Senchuk Vineyard. But right across the road lies the Grimsby Hillside Vineyard, an old site that has been re-tooled for high-quality organic production that is now selling at a premium to some of Niagara’s best winemakers.  The 2022 vintage was warm and ripe with a very tiny crop, but cooling breezes from nearby Lake Ontario preserved natural acidity and freshness.  Two different clones of chardonnay were hand-picked, hand-sorted and gently whole cluster pressed into separate tanks. After two days, each clone was racked into puncheons and barriques for wild yeast fermentation and aging for 15 months.

Accolades:  Silver National Wine Awards of Canada 2026