Black Hills Estate Winery

About Black Hills Estate Winery

Founded in 1999, Black Hills Estate Winery produces wine exclusively from its estate vineyard on the Black Sage Bench, north of Osoyoos, British Columbia. The vineyard microclimate is one of the hottest, driest, and sunniest sites in the South Okanagan, allowing the vines to yield flavourful grapes of balanced intensity. Using sustainable viticultural techniques and thoughtful winemaking practices, the winery is well-known for its signature blend: Nota Bene, an age-worthy Bordeaux-style red blend produced in limited-quantities from select barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Black Hills also produces a selection of stunning ultra-premium blends, such as Addendum, Per Se, and Ipso Facto, and varietally-labelled Viognier, Chardonnay, Roussanne, Syrah, Tempranillo and Carménère.
Surrounded by panoramic vineyard views, the Black Hills team welcomes wine lovers to visit their Wine Experience Center in Oliver. This stylish facility provides a unique, sit-down wine tasting experience guided by highly trained wine professionals. Annual summer events held at the facility are bold, exciting and fun. Members of the Black Hills Wine Club enjoy access to limited-release wines not available to the public.
To learn more, visit blackhillswinery.com and follow the conversation on Facebook (@blackhillswinery), Twitter (@blackhillswine) and Instagram (@blackhillswine).

Representative Biography

Ross Wise, Winemaker

A New Zealand native, Ross Wise MW, now based in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, is the Director of winemaking and head winemaker at Black Hills Estate Winery. He holds a Bachelor of Viticulture and Advanced Diploma in Wine Science from the Eastern Institute of Technology Hawkes Bay, and has held many industry consulting roles across the wine regions of New Zealand and Canada. In 2020, Ross became Canada’s seventh Master of Wine, achieving this credential with a paper focused on the potential impacts of climate change on viticulture in the Okanagan Valley. Outside of the wine industry, Ross’s interests include making hot sauce, hiking and biking in the BC mountains, and sailing.
Quote: Having worked in Central Otago, Marlborough, Ontario and British Columbia, I have always been surrounded by great cool climate Chardonnay. No other white wine can match the complexity of fruit, mineral, yeast and oak aromas of cool Chardonnay, or compete with its elegance and subtlety.

Why We're Cool

Black Hills produces a single Chardonnay each vintage, grown from our coolest vineyard site near the town of Osoyoos in the Okanagan Valley.

The winery operates three estate vineyards in the southern Okanagan Valley; two west facing vineyards on the Black Sage Bench (Sharp Rock and Double Black), and a cooler east facing vineyard (Paydirt) just north of Osoyoos. Our Paydirt vineyard is comprised of deep gravelly glacio-fluvial soils. The mountains to the west shelter the vineyard from the heat of the late day sun, providing cool evening temperatures and a high diurnal temperature range. Vineyard management focusses on maintaining a healthy soil through compost additions and zero herbicide use. A balanced canopy is achieved through carefully scheduled irrigation, and leaf removal is avoided to maintain a cool fruit zone, allowing grapes to retain their freshness.

The cellar uses a gentle and patient approach with Chardonnay. Hand-picked grapes are whole cluster pressed using a long and gentle press cycle. The juice is racked immediately after pressing to retain solids. Fermentation is carried out by native yeasts in 500L French oak puncheons (10-15% new oak), and can take as long as six months to complete. Malolactic conversion is allowed to occur naturally in all but the warmest vintages. The wine spends approximately 1o-12 months undisturbed on its fermentation lees, and is then bottled without fining.
Chardonnay plantings at Black Hills Estate Winery – 5 acres
Average Growing degree days = 1500

The winery operates three estate vineyards in the southern Okanagan Valley; two west facing vineyards on the Black Sage Bench (Sharp Rock and Double Black), and a cooler east facing vineyard (Paydirt) just north of Osoyoos. Our Paydirt vineyard is comprised of deep gravelly glacio-fluvial soils. The mountains to the west shelter the vineyard from the heat of the late day sun, providing cool evening temperatures and a high diurnal temperature range. Vineyard management focusses on maintaining a healthy soil through compost additions and zero herbicide use. A balanced canopy is achieved through carefully scheduled irrigation, and leaf removal is avoided to maintain a cool fruit zone, allowing grapes to retain their freshness.

The cellar uses a gentle and patient approach with Chardonnay. Hand-picked grapes are whole cluster pressed using a long and gentle press cycle. The juice is racked immediately after pressing to retain solids. Fermentation is carried out by native yeasts in 500L French oak puncheons (10-15% new oak), and can take as long as six months to complete. Malolactic conversion is allowed to occur naturally in all but the warmest vintages. The wine spends approximately 1o-12 months undisturbed on its fermentation lees, and is then bottled without fining.
Chardonnay plantings at Black Hills Estate Winery – 5 acres
Average Growing degree days = 1500