The Latest Vintage of Black Hills Estate Winery’s Nota Bene Arrives From Far Afield
The 2024 edition of the cult Okanagan wine replicates its region-defining style with fruit sourced from south of the border.
Since Black Hills Estate Winery’s inaugural vintage in 1999, its iconic Nota Bene has showcased the best that the Okanagan Valley has to offer. Comprising traditional Bordeaux varieties—cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc—it almost singlehandedly reinforced the idea that a Canadian wine region can produce world class examples of big, bold, powerful red wines. For 25 vintages, Nota Bene consistently ranked among the Okanagan’s finest Bordeaux blends, but when the much-publicized freeze struck the region in January 2024, the Oliver outfit had to pivot, opting for fruit from south of the border.
For the 2024 vintage of Nota Bene, Black Hills, now led by head winemaker Ryan McKibbon, ventured to the Rocks District AVA in Oregon, in the south of the Walla Walla Valley. Here, they sourced merlot (43 per cent), cabernet sauvignon (34 per cent), and cabernet franc (23 per cent) during a generally cool vintage. The result? A “hiatus” Nota Bene that falls remarkably in line with its forebears. Its rich red and purple fruit, sagebrush and menthol, and rose and white flower flavours prove that a cult wine is as much the product of perspective as of plot.
The 2024 vintage of Black Hills Estate Winery’s Nota Bene is available for purchase exclusively by wine club members and is expected to sell out before pubic release.
Photographs by Jan Snarski
