By Rick VanSickle
Black Bank Hill winemaker Jonathan McLean approaches his wines “like a chef makes a tasting menu — each one has been uniquely created to tell a different story and give tasters an experience when moving from wine to wine.”
We are just now beginning to see the full portfolio from this relatively new Beamsville estate winery, which only finished building the working winery last spring. And with the winery completed, the interesting winemaking style of McLean, a fusion of the Okanagan Valley and Niagara, is coming into focus.
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Black Bank Hill was founded by Taylor Emerson, above with winemaker Jonathan McLean,, who in 2016 chose a new path from his career in the lucrative digital media industry in London, England. He sought out WSET courses and enrolled in the two-year viticulture and oenology diploma at Plumpton College in Sussex.
He set his sights on starting a winery and ultimately decided to move back to Canada. His search led him to the old Trach family fruit farm located at 4247 Sann Road, just north of Old Highway 8 in the Lincoln-Lakeshore sub-appellation. Emerson purchased the 22-acre farm that was formerly planted to plums, grapes, and cherries, but sat fallow for a decade. He planted 19 acres of the farm to grapes from scratch. “I didn’t want to inherit a vineyard,” he told Wines in Niagara. “I knew I wanted to come home and do this.”
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Once he planted the vines, he needed a winemaker, so Emerson convinced his cousin, McLean, to give up his gig in the Okanagan where he made had made wines at Culmina, LaStella, Le Vieux Pin, Tantalus, and CedarCreek among others. Prior to McLean’s arrival, Emerson used Cloudsley Cellars and winemaker Matt Smith to make his wines while the estate grapes were coming to fruition.
The bulk of McLean’s winemaking career was at the Okanagan winery LaStella making “Super Tuscan” wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese). The white production there was done “at our sister winery by my mentor Severine Pinte,” McLean told Wines in Niagara.
During his time at Culmina (now owned by Arterra) the neighbours there happened to be the CheckMate winery, noted for its super-premium Chardonnays that some consider the best in the country. McLean incorporated winemaker Phil McGahan’s techniques of using unsettled grape juice for his wild fermentations for the first two white wines — the Black Bank Hill Chardonnay and Viognier 2022 — he has ever made.
McLean says that accomplishes two important things:
• “Each barrel is a unique expression of a press fraction. Meaning the first barrel filled is different than the last barrel. Traditionally all that juice would be mixed together, settled, racked, partially fermented and then moved to barrel where it finishes.”
• “Not settling juice increases complexity by retaining flavour, aroma and texture, precursors that would otherwise be lost. It is a riskier way to ferment (more prone to reductivity, strange fermentation dynamics and an increased chance of sticking) which is why fruit quality is paramount at Black Bank Hill. In my opinion, settling is very invasive and will have a profound effect on the final product. Less processing allows terroir to shine through. That technique is only used with Chardonnay and Rhone whites. The Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Chenin are settled because I’m going for a cleaner, more elegant approach to those wines. Our basket press allows us to do this by being gentle on the grapes (not being tossed around inside a press for three hours) ensuring only the purest juice is used for our wines.”
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With Chardonnay, for example, it can be picked on three different dates. It can be whole-cluster pressed and/or undergo 24-hour skin contact. Unsettled juice goes directly into barrels (fractions) where they all ferment uniquely. “So, at every stage in our process, we are increasing the level of complexity of our wines. It’s all very intentional,” McLean says.
His approach to bâtonnage is similar, meaning Chardonnay and Viognier will get about three months of stirring versus the other varieties that see very little or none at all.
Acids, as well, are a critical part of the process. “Having a riper style means that I intentionally leave malic acid in our Chardonnays to create a sense of tension,” McLean says. “The Viognier, however, is taken right through malo to create a luscious wine that will play very differently in your mouth. We do not adjust acids, they are what they are, so harvest timings are critical (I will add some CO2 to our whites before bottling which gives the impression of higher acidity).”
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The key takeaway with the direction that Black Bank Hill is heading is “exclusively using our own estate grown fruit gives me the control to dial in grape quality,” says McLean. “This allows me to express my west coast style by growing riper, fuller wines than typically found in Niagara. There is a massive advantage to winemakers who are responsible for their own grapes, and I think Black Bank Hill will prove that in the coming years.”
McLean notes that the 2022 Chardonnay and Viognier had incredibly low yields. “The Viognier alone was 0.25 tonnes per acre and the vintage was perfect, so the alcohols are higher than I would ideally like them,” he says. “Things will be a bit more balanced in the future, but I love these wines because they tell the story of the vintage.”
Here’s what I liked from the tasting with McLean and Emerson. All these wines are now available online here or at the retail facility. Only the viognier is not for sale as only a tiny 24 cases were made exclusively for wine club members.
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Black Bank Hill Runway Rosé 2023 ($25, 90 points) — The Runway Rosé is a blend of estate Cabernet Franc (94%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (6%) that was bottled in March 2024. Emerson and McLean prefer to bottle age their rosés before releasing them to promote texture on the palate. It shows a bright pink colour in the glass with a nose of ripe Morello cherries, brambly raspberries, rhubarb, a touch of blackberry/cassis, watermelon and herbs. It’s quite expressive on a silky-smooth palate with ripe red berries, cran-cherries, cassis, herbs, subtle sweetness and electric acidity keeping it fresh and lively on the finish.
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Black Bank Hill Viognier 2022 ($40, wine club only, 93 points) — The fruit for this stylistic Viognier was transferred, unsettled, directly to a second use French oak barrique where it was wild fermented for 28 days. It was aged for 17 months, transferred to tank and bottled. What a treat this bold and sassy Vio is! Notes of ripe apricot, nectarine, poached pear, summer peach and ginger spice on the nose. It has an oily texture on the palate with a touch of reduction and flavours of apricot tart, marmalade, honeysuckle, quince, mango, savoury notes and lovely baking spices on a luxurious, long finish. A very fine Viognier that would be fun to taste in a couple more years.
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Black Bank Hill Chardonnay 2022 ($50, 94 points) —This 100% estate-grown Chardonnay, planted to clones 95 and 548, was hand sorted and whole cluster pressed straight into three second use French oak barriques without enzymes or settling. Primary fermentation was completed by wild yeast that lasted between 27 and 45 days. The malic fermentation occurred spontaneously but was intentionally stopped at 60% completion. Bâtonnage occurred twice weekly for 11 weeks and êlevage lasted 20 months. The wine was filtered and lightly fined prior to bottling. If you ever this was a quintessentially amalgam of B.C. wine-style and Niagara terroir, this is it. McLean leans heavily on what he learned from CheckMate winemaker McGahan for this expression. The bâtonnage brings the texture and depth with slightly less acid and higher abv at 14.2%. The malo adds balance and ripeness. It has a ripe, bold nose of Bosc pear, yellow apples, apricot tart, candied citrus, white flowers, caramel and toasty spices. It’s viscous and dense on the palate with reduction to go with ripe stone fruits, some ripe tropical and savoury notes, a creamy texture, toasted almonds, rich spices and a rounded finish that lasts and lasts. A full-throttle Chardonnay with just enough Niagara finesse and minerality to give it a sense of place.
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Black Bank Hill Pinot Noir 2022 ($45, 92 points) — McLean says the general style he is going for with the red wines is on the riper side with more tannins, more alcohol, more colour, and generally bigger wines. “But I like making it in the vineyard. This is more of a west coast Pinot than what you traditionally see in Niagara.” The wine was wild fermented and racked into neutral French oak barrels for 20 months of aging before it was bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is the first Pinot McLean has ever made. It has an evocative and bold nose of ripe black cherries, brambly raspberries, red currants, cassis, purple flowers, subtle decaying leaves, dried tobacco and bright, lifted spice notes. It’s rich and savoury on the complex and layered palate with macerated cherries, earthy notes, black raspberries, anise, dried herbs, smooth tannins, toasted spice notes and a long, finessed finish. Drinking very nice right now but could cellar to 2030 for further development.
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Black Bank Hill Merlot 2021 ($40, 92 points) — This estate Merlot was hand harvested, destemmed and lightly crushed before it was wild fermented and aged in French oak barrels for 17 months before it was bottled unfiltered and unfined. The nose shows savoury red berries, cassis, plums, subtle earthy notes and elegant spices. The nose is a riot of brambly red berries, cassis, plums, underlying loamy/earthy notes, anise and fine oak spices. It’s nicely integrated right now with still evident tannins, full-on red berry fruits, cassis, anise, dried tobacco and integrated oak spices. Can cellar to 2032.
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Black Bank Hill Cabernet Franc 2022 ($40, 93 points) — “2022 is the year that Black Bank Hill showed us what Black Bank Hill is all about,” says Emerson. With the arrival of winemaker McLean, the completion of the winery and fruit primarily from the estate vineyard, Emerson pointed to the 2022s as the style of wines the winery will strive for going forward. The estate Cab Franc is a good example of that direction. The wine was wild fermented and aged for 20 months in a mix of used and neutral French oak barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. I love this old-style Cab Franc with its nose of minty/eucalypt, fresh red berries, graphite, wild blueberries, herbs and lifted barrel spices. It’s rich and concentrated on the palate and leaning more toward the darker fruits of anise, blueberries and plums, with that lovely minty accent, fine tannins, solid structure, black tea notes and spice on a lifted, long finish. Can hold this wine through 2033.
The post Black Bank Hill: A Niagara winery with a little west coast swagger appeared first on Wines In Niagara.