Leaning Post, 2020 Cabernet Franc, Grimsby Hillside Vineyard
Leaning Post was founded as a virtual winery in 2009 and is run by husband-wife team Ilya and Nadia Senchuk. Prior to founding Leaning Post, Ilya had made wine for well over a decade at a number of different wineries in the Niagara region, and today Leaning Post is considered one of the elite wine producers not only in the Niagara Peninsula, but across Canada as a whole. Ilya and Nadia farm their home vineyard - the Senchuk Vineyard - located near the village of Winona, but also source from top growers across the Niagara Peninsula. Ilya is highly regarded for his focus on single-vineyard, terroir-expressive wines that he makes from the grapes that thrive in Ontario, such as Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cabernet Franc. Today we're looking at the newly released 2020 Cabernet Franc from the Grimsby Hillside Vineyard, which is located in the Lincoln Lakeshore VQA sub-appellation.
The appellation stretches nearly 25km from east to west, on the Lake Iroquois Plain, following the shoreline of Lake Ontario to the north, and the Lake Iroquois Shore Bluff to the south. It is also important to note that appellation narrows considerably as you move west. In the eastern most part of the appellation, at its widest point it is around 4.5km from north to south. And the appellation narrows to 1.5 to 2.5km in the western part of the appellation, out towards the towns of Grimsby and Winona. To put that into perspective, the entire Niagara-on-the-Lake regional appellation is only 12km wide, and is divided into four sub-appellations.
As is the case across the Niagara Peninsula, Lake Ontario is an important regulator of climate in the Lincoln Lakeshore appellation. While there are some nuances across this large of an area, generally the conditions get cooler as you move from east to west across the Lincoln Lakeshore appellation. So the closer we are to the lake, the stronger the breezes off the lake will be, which will cool conditions considerably. Conversely, in the wider parts of the appellation in the vineyards that are further away from the lake, these will be a bit warmer. But this proximity to the lake will mean that the growing season, while slightly cooler, will be longer compared to more inland locations.
In terms of topography, to the naked eye, the region appears quite flat, the appellation has a very gradual, gentle slope to the north, with elevations ranging from around 80m closer to the lake, to about 90m at the southern end of the appellation. Because of this relatively flat topography, the vineyards in this sub-appellation enjoy uninterrupted sunshine during the daytime, which is good for ripening.
In terms of soils, across this large area, there is a lot of variability in terms of soils, but there are some generalizations we can make. Approximately 55% of the appellation, predominantly in the western part, we find very sandy topsoils, over a clay-loam or sandy-loam subsoil. And in some localized areas we find heavier red and grey clays.
So the Grimsby Hillside Vineyard is located in the western part of the Lincoln Lakeshore appellation, only about a kilometer southeast of Leaning Post, in between Grimsby and Winona. This is around a 84 acre vineyard farmed by Paul Franciosa, and it is planted with about 22 acres of Cabernet Franc, that's just a little over a quarter of the vineyard's acreage. The vineyard is situated at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment, only about 2.5km south of Lake Ontario, so because of this location, this would be considered a cooler site in the Lincoln Lakeshore appellation, which results in slightly slower sugar accumulation, but because of its flat topography the vineyard does receive uninterrupted sun exposure during the growing season, which is good for phenolic development.
The Leaning Post 2020 is from about 1 acre of vines from two different blocks, both planted in 2002 with clone 214. The soils in these blocks are comprised of a silty-clay and clay-loam topsoil, followed by a heavier clay subsoil, which is derived from the shale bedrock below and has a slight reddish hue. Paul noted that in the vineyard they are very meticulous with leaf removal, but don't typically need to green harvest as the block are naturally lower yield, and the vineyard is farmed as holistically as possible, without the use of insecticides and a combination of conventional and organic sprays. And if you are not familiar with this vineyard, it is one to keep on your radar as in recent vintages it is emerging as one of the top quality sites for Cabernet Franc in the Niagara Peninsula.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit was all hand-harvested, hand-sorted and destemmed. Fermentation was in concrete with indigenous yeast, and the fruit did undergo a cold soak for about 5 days in advance of alcoholic fermentation. In terms of maceration and extraction techniques, they focus on punch downs during the cold soak and for the post-fermentation maceration, and pumping over during the fermentation, to achieve a balanced but gentle extraction, and the total time on skins is about 25 days. Aging is in a combination of French and American oak, about 30% new for around 21 months.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Leaning Post
Region: Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada
Appellation: VQA Lincoln Lakeshore
Soil: Deep, reddish clay
Alcohol: 14.2%
