The Fifty Chardonnay 2024, Leaning Post Wines

Description from the Producer

The 2024 growing season was warm and steady, with a dry, moderate and long fall resulting in grapes of elegance and power, that are fully ripe in flavour with excellent acidity. This wine is the perfect blend of Chardonnay grown in four different vineyards, all hand-picked and hand-sorted. The majority is from younger vines in the Grimsby Hillside Vineyard picked on September 17 th, while the remainder is from Bock Vineyard (picked September 19 th ) our estate Senchuk Vineyard (picked September 22nd) and Hemeris Vineyard (October 11th). All the Chardonnay was whole-cluster pressed, and kept separate. The juice was allowed to settle before being racked into French oak barrels for fermentation to occur by indigenous yeast and malolactic bacteria. Once fermentation was finished, the chardonnay remained in barrel for 10 months before being bottled in September, 2025.

The vintage allowed Chardonnay to ripen slowly and evenly, gaining full flavour while keeping the balance of fresh crisp acidity. On the fuller side of our Leaning Post Style, the nose shows immediate wave of pineapple, lemon-curd, peach pith, and sea-spray followed immediately by wet-stone minerality. The palate brings beautiful richness but still balance with grilled Niagara peaches, cumin, and lemon-meringue mingling with crème fraiche, flint and roasted almond. The finish is silky smooth and exceptionally long but is eventually overtaken by wet-stone and crisp acidity. A truly beautiful example of Niagara Chardonnay!