This Okanagan Valley Winery Isn’t Putting Success Ahead of Progress

With the recent release of the 25th vintage of its icon wine, Black Hills Estate Winery celebrates its past achievements and future goals.

Writer John Clegg

Success rarely lasts in the world of wine. Like the juice in the bottle, most wineries reach their peak for a brief but glorious moment before slowly fading, losing their flavour along the way. Even the biggest brands and most respected regions see their success wane with changing tastes and drinking habits. However, a rare few wineries are able to maintain their success year after year, creating wines that stand the test of time and consumer whims alike.

In British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, that anomaly is Black Hills Estate Winery, the pioneering Oliver winery that just marked the 25th anniversary of its icon wine, Nota Bene, with the release of the 2023 vintage. Founded in 1996 by Bob and Senka Tennant and Peter and Susan McCarrell, Black Hills has changed hands a number of times over the years (including a stint in the hands of Vinequest, owned in part by Canadian actor Jason Priestley), but the quality and reception of its wines, Nota Bene most notably, have remained remarkably consistent. In recent years, Ross Wise, one of Canada’s few Masters of Wine and who recently returned to his native New Zealand, led the outfit to yet another echelon higher, and now his successor, Ryan McKibbon, is set to do the same.

McKibbon, who has been tending to the wines behind the scenes since 2022, has been promoted to head winemaker, which he promises to bring new energy to by engaging with fans of the brand, a role long manned by Wise. “It’s a nice component of the job too, because you spend all this time crafting these wines for people to enjoy, but you never really get to experience people enjoying them.” As he acclimates to his new public-facing role, McKibbon is also set to make his own mark on Black Hills’ vaunted stable of wines. But fans of the brand can rest assured that under McKibbon, the future of the Okanagan’s favourite icon wine is secure. “I want to keep it grounded in its tradition. I think it’s an interesting wine because it’s so much about telling the story of a vintage and telling the story of a site,” he says.

The most significant changes occurring at Black Hills as McKibbon takes the reins are in the vineyards. Aided by decades of science, Black Hills is restructuring its vineyards to ensure a further 25-plus years of excellence. “We’re transitioning more to Rhone whites: viognier, marsanne, and roussanne. But at the same time, we’ve committed to the bread and butter, which is built on a classic Bordeaux blend,” McKibbon says. “We’ve essentially remapped the vineyard, building on the historic data that we had over the past 30 years, and kind of changed a lot of the site: aspect, root stocks, where things are planted.”

Black Hills has been one of the Okanagan Valley’s greatest promoters of Rhone white grape varieties for years, having frequently bottled roussanne and viognier as varietal wines, but its newest white blend, Aridus, proves why it is right to replant estate vineyards with these underappreciated grapes. A blend of nearly equal parts roussanne (46 per cent) and viognier (40 per cent), with a touch of marsanne (14 per cent) for good measure, Aridus is a fitting expression of the vineyards that inspire its name—the Latin word for dry. Loaded with ripe peach, honey, and white flower flavours, it’s a full-bodied white wine that tastes like an inkling of what’s to come from Black Hills.

But Note Bene remains Black Hills’ big-ticket attraction, and the 25th-anniversary edition from the 2023 vintage continues its tradition of excellence. A blend of cabernet sauvignon (37 per cent), merlot (35 per cent), and cabernet franc (28 per cent), the landmark wine is set to be the last from Black Hills’ estate vineyards for the foreseeable future, as it works to rehabilitate, replant, and regrow vines over the coming years. As is the case with many Okanagan wineries, cabernet franc is set to become an increasingly prominent player in Black Hills’ portfolio, but Nota Bene, predominated by cabernet sauvignon, is not earmarked for a drastic change. “From my perspective, I don’t really want to change too much of what Nota Bene is,” McKibbon says.

With its record of success over the past 25 years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Black Hills make waves with wines from almost any grape made in any style. However, patience pays in the world of wine, and Black Hills is playing the long game, like a savvy collector waiting for their bottles of Nota Bene to peak. “I think eventually we want to play with something like a Super Tuscan down the road,” McKibbon says. “But it’ll be a number of years before we got to that point.”