The Black Hills Estate
Our Outstanding Terroir
Black Hills Estate Winery vineyards have some of the most favourable grape growing conditions in the country, resulting in exceptional terroir. Located on the famed Black Sage Road, 13 kilometres north of Osoyoos, BC and 10 kilometres south of Oliver, BC. This places Black Hills Estate in the Okanagan Valley appellation, centered in the middle of Canada’s only official desert. The resulting microclimate leaves us with one of hottest, driest and sunniest sites in the country. In fact, with our northern latitude, we have more sunlight hours than Napa Valley in the key growing months of June through August.
The vineyards' west-facing slope aspect and deep desert sand experiences exceptional diurnal tempature variation providing daytime heat that fully ripens our grapes followed by cool nights that allow acid retention. The result? Intensely flavourful grapes!
Black Hills careful irrigation techniques and thoughtfully focused viticulture practices, provide ideal growing conditions for the Bordeaux and Rhone varietals we nurture. We are so terroir-centric that our winegrower lives right in the middle of our vineyard. He quite literally eats, sleeps and breathes our grapes!
Clonal diversity
Black Hills grows four clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, two clones of Cabernet Franc and four clones of Merlot. Each clone reflects its terroir with a unique flavour profile. We continue to respect each clone's individuality by crushing, fermenting and barrel aging them separately. When they are eventually blended together, this Clonal diversity gives multi-faceted depth and complexity to our Nota Bene. This depth and complexity is the hallmark of our flagship wine, and it all starts in our vineyard.
Sustainable farming practices
As honoured stewards of the land, we respectfully harness the vineyard's potential to produce the best fruit imaginable. Likewise, we have the highest respect for the legacy of the vineyard and the role that agriculture plays in the environmental cycle. We are committed to sustainable, environmentally friendly farming and winemaking practices. All of our vines are hand picked, hand pruned and manually maintained. We have been awarded Environmental Farm Plan Status by the B.C. Environmental Farm Plan. This plan is administered by the Federal and Provincial Departments of Agriculture as well as the BC Agriculture Council and the Investment Agriculture Foundation. We are proud or our agricultural sustainability and contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment as we continue to operate under the best practices of the Environmental Farm Plan.