A New Winery that Matured Quickly
Two cousins, one who studied viticulture in England, the other a winemaker in British Columbia, split the geographical distance and now collaborate in a winery in Niagara Peninsula. Black Bank Hill, in the Lincoln Lakeshore subappellation, is a recent addition to Niagara’s winery population, having made wine exclusively from estate-grown grapes for the first time as recently as 2021. Although many wineries boast of making wine for generations, Black Bank Hill’s short history hasn’t prevented its wines from quickly attracting attention—and awards—for their quality.
Taylor Emerson, the cousin living in England but originally from Toronto, bought land for a vineyard in 2017 and began planting vines the following year. One of the three wines the vines produced in 2020, a cabernet franc, won a platinum medal at National Wine Awards of Canada. It was a great beginning, and Emerson could see the way forward and had a plan, but the business was at an early stage of development. He began to call his cousin, Jonathan McLean, who had been making wine in British Columbia for over a decade, “about fermentations and other details, and it grew into a conversation about working together.” McLean joined Black Bank Hill in 2021.
Emerson says that his family is fairly scattered, and that he and McLean “didn’t get the chance to spend a lot of time together.” But their shared passion for wine brought them together and they perform complementary roles in the winery: McLean runs production as winemaker and viticulturist, while Emerson runs the business overall—although he has also been a cellar hand during harvest.
Taylor Emerson, Vintner
Jonathan McLean, winemaker and viticulturist at Black Bank Hill Winery
Black Bank Hill farms 20 acres of vines, with half evenly divided among cabernet franc, chardonnay, pinot noir, and syrah. There are smaller plantings of eight other varieties that include viognier, pinot gris, merlot, and chenin blanc. This range of varieties provides versatility for Black Bank Hill’s impressive varietal wines and blends.
Are they aiming for a particular style of wine? “I do feel that a house style is revealing itself as we progress,” Emerson says. “But it was not something we laid out consciously.” He describes it as “listening to the vineyard and openly observing the character of the fruit and responding with how best to capture and present those inherent attributes.” Some of the techniques they employ include managing yields, using only a basket press, wild yeasts, avoiding fining and filtration when possible, and long maturation in barrels.
To describe their wines, Emerson uses terms such as “well-defined,” “full ripeness and flavour,” and “thoughtful and balanced extraction and tannins.” They “push the boundary of Niagara’s cool-climate idiom somewhat,” achieving full ripening while retaining elegance and balance between acid and weight. “This is the sweet spot I think Niagara is really starting to find,” he says.
Black Bank Hill’s wines express these qualities. Fraternité 2023 is a gorgeous, pungent blend that’s two-thirds pinot gris and one-third gewürztraminer. Matured for 19 months in neutral French barrels, it’s fresh, flavourful, and dynamic. For its part, Black Bank Hill Cabernet Franc 2022 delivers rich, dark fruit with accents of tobacco and iodine on a framework that speaks to balance and some elegance. The red blend, Egalité 2022, brings together cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot to forge a luscious, layered palate of dark fruit with a spine of finely calibrated acidity.
You would expect a new winery like Black Bank Hill to be focused on consolidation, and Emerson says the immediate plan “is fairly practical”: to increase production and sales, in conjunction with focusing on the quality and continuous improvement in production. But he acknowledges development: “The terroir we have in Niagara is a special gift, and I don’t think we have yet seen what it is fully capable of.” Based on the outstanding success in its short history, Black Bank Hill seems well placed to embrace Niagara’s potential.
Black Bank Hill wines
Black Bank Hill Fraternité 2023 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
Black Bank Hill Pinot Noir 2022 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
Black Bank Hill Viognier 2023 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
Black Bank Hill Égalité 2022 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
Black Bank Hill Cabernet Franc 2022 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
Black Bank Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (VQA Lincoln Lakeshore)
