About Black Hills Estate Winery 

The Terroir on our 40-acre property is renowned as some of the most exceptional in the country. Located on the famed Black Sage Bench north of Osoyoos,

our vineyard has a microclimate that makes it one of the hottest, driest and most sunny sites in Canada. With our northern latitude we enjoy longer sunlight hours than Napa Valley does in the key growing months of June through August. The west-facing orientation combined with our deep desert sand gives us intense daytime heat followed by cool nights. This exceptional diurnal temperature variation allows the grapes to fully ripen by day and then retain the acidity by night. The result in that our vineyard yields intensely flavorful grapes.

Our Vineyard team uses careful irrigation techniques and intensely focused viticulture practices, which create ideal growing conditions for growing the “Big Reds”

of our signature blend. In fact we are so terroir-centric in our thinking, that our winemaker lives right in the middle of our vineyard. He quite literally eats, sleeps and breathes our grapes!

Thanks to our terroir, we are one of the few Meritage or Bordeaux-style blends that are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon. We have one of the few sites in the country

that has a long enough growing season and enough heat to fully ripen this grape. This in turn allows for a taste profile that is truly unique amongst Canadian red

blends. Further, the clonal diversity gives multi-faceted depth to our Cabernet Sauvignon which enables Nota Bene wine takes on the complexity that it is renowned for.

Our small 9,000 case production enables us to use very exacting standards and “hands on” farming and winemaking practices. Our team has always used environmentally sustainable farming practices. All of our vines are maintained, picked and sorted by hand. We call our Vineyard Manager our “Grape Whisperer” because of his ability to coax the best flavours out of our vines. In the winery, we employ the gentlest fruit handling possible and use state-of-the-art equipment including an automated berry sorting table, crusher/destemmer, and press. Then we carefully and methodically age our wine in appellation specific oak.

Since 2007 we have invested over $300,000 into improvements in the vineyard & winery to further elevate the craft of fine wine making at Black Hills Estate Winery. This is only the latest instalment in the legacy of the continual quality evolution that has existed with us since 1996.

In 2011 an excellent vineyard on a neighbours property was purchased to increase the wineries access to top quality grapes. In 2012 a 5,000 sq.ft. winery addition was completed to give greater room to elevate the winemaking craft. Then in June of 2013 an innovative new Wine Tasting Lounge & Pizzeria opened up to provide world-class wine tasting experiences to visitors in the valley.

The years ahead promise greater and greater passion as we pursue our passion to produce the best possible wine in Canada.

Other interesting facts on Black Hills Estate Winery

1)  Cab Domination.

·  Thanks to our terroir, we are one of the few Meritage or Bordeaux-style blends that are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon. We have one of the few sites in the country that has a long enough growing season and enough heat to fully ripen this grape. This in turn allows for a taste profile that is truly unique amongst Canadian red blends.

2)  Clonal Diversity.

·  We grow four different clones on our 10.5 acre lot of Cabernet Sauvignon. Each has differing ripening and taste profiles, and each is crushed, fermented and barrel aged separately. When they are eventually blended together, this Clonal diversity gives multi-faceted depth to our Cabernet Sauvignon. Then when combined with the Merlot and Cabernet Franc that are grown on our same vineyard, the Nota Bene wine takes on the complexity that it is renowned for.

3)  Environmentally sustainable farming practices

·  Black Hills has been awarded Environmental Farm Plan Status by the BC Environmental Farm Plan. This means that we have always been guided by sustainable practices in our vineyard and in our winery.

4)  Exacting hand-grown vines, hand- made wine.

·  Our small 6,300 case production enables us to use very exacting standards and “hands on” farming and winemaking practices. All of our vines are maintained, picked and sorted by hand. We call our Vineyard Manager our “Grape Whisperer” because of his ability to coax the best flavours out of our vines. In the winery, we employ the gentlest fruit handling possible and use state-of-the-art equipment including an automated berry sorting table, crusher/destemmer, and press. Then we carefully and methodically age our wine in appellation specific oak.

5)  Nota Bene is B.C.’s most sought-after wines.

·  Nota Bene is Latin for “Take Note”. It was first launched with our 1999 vintage. Since then the following for our Bordeaux-style red blend has grown rapidly. Many in the province feel that Nota Bene has achieved cult status, as witnessed when the 2006 vintage of 3.300 cases sold out in only 47 minutes!

Black Hills Estate Winery

Glenn Fawcett, President

Cell: (403) 710-1667  e-mail: glenn@blackhillswinery.com

30880 Black Sage Road

RR1, Site 52, Comp 22

Oliver, B.C., V0H 1T0

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