Tasting Note: I have tasted this wine three times this year, most recently September 2026. It is a real live-wire showing brilliant, intense, crushed red fruit aromas of raspberry, blueberry and cranberry. Plus, red rose florals and background oak spice. The aromatic punch continues right through the palate and onto the finish. It is medium weight, energized yet smooth with a subtext of sourish VA (volatile acidity). Tannins are very fine – barely an issue. The length is excellent to outstanding.  A touch of sediment shows up in the glass but the aromas are not yet far along. This should live and impress well into the mid-2030s.

Backgrounder: Leaning Post is firmly ensconced, in my view, as a top ten winery in Ontario, with Ilya Senchuk sourcing great fruit from distinctive sites, including his own maturing Senchuk Vineyard at his Winona property. This is Leaning Post’s first vintage of Cabernet Franc from 25-year-old vines in Grimsby Hillside Vineyard just across the road (and shown in the photo below). The grapes were hand-picked and hand-sorted on November 5^th (late in the season after a difficult ripe but wet year) They were destemmed and cold soaked on skins prior to fermentation, which happened with wild yeasts in concrete. The wine remained on skins for six days before being pressed. It was transferred to French and American oak barrels (30% new) and aged for 21 months.