Tasting Note Every time I taste a chardonnay from this increasingly famous vineyard I almost swoon at the silken texture, power and depth. I swooned three times at the CCC as three Grimsby Hillside chardonnays and three cabernet francs were poured at the Mystery Wine Reception, courtesy of Paul Franciosa, whose family owns this vineyard and sells fruit to several wineries. This is so rich and elegant. Expect all kinds of hazelnut, subtle butter, vanilla, toast and French oak barrel spice on the nose and palate. It is medium weight, creamy and very polished with some heat and what feels like a bit of residual sugar, but perhaps just fruit and barrel sweetness. Beautifully textured, it simply billows on the palate. Some heat and burr on the finish. Excellent to outstanding length. Tasted twice July 2025 and again January 2026.
Backgrounder Divergence is a relatively new label by winemaker Jeff Moote who is making the wines within the Collab Project at Marynissen Estates. He is sourcing fruit from some of Niagara’s best sites, including the large Grimsby Hillside Vineyard, a cool site sandwiched between forest on the toe of the Escarpment and Highway 8 in Winona (technically within Hamilton) and less than two kilometres from Lake Ontario. Here, complex silty clay loam topsoils give way to heavier red clay then another layer of calcareous limestone shale below. It is one of Niagara’s oldest sites, first harvested in 1874, but was given to high volume, lower-quality grape growing until Lou Franciosa purchased the 90-acre property in 2002 and began transforming the viticulture to produce premium grapes. After he passed away in 2006 his sons took over the vine rehab. It wasn’t until 2019 that the family felt confident enough in the quality to allow wineries to put Grimsby Hillside Vineyard on their labels. The Frontier Block refers to a particularly stoney patch. This chardonnay was wild fermented in a mix of new and used French oak barrels and puncheon, then aged 17 months before bottling unfiltered.
One of the best chardonnays that I have ever tasted. Bought a case!