Black Bank Hill Chardonnay 2020

This is the last vintage from sourced grapes (Wismer Wingfield on the Twenty Mile Bench) for the Chardonnay. Note the late vintage release, which is a theme with this winery. ‘I like wines that are aged for a long time,’ said Emerson, who prefers to hold back wines in bottle longer than most to show his wines at their best. The fruit is whole-bunch pressed, settled, and racked into second- and third-use French oak barrels for wild fermentation and 19 months of élevage (in used French oak barrels) on its lees. It’s ripe and concentrated on the nose with poached pear, yellow apple, lemon curd, stony/saline minerality, a touch of toasted coconut and creamy spice notes. It shows opulent, generous stone fruits on the palate, chalky/stony notes, a creamy texture, vanilla toast, lemon zest, caramel, and spice with enough juicy acidity to keep it in balance. Drinking really nice at the moment but can hold until 2028. Score – 93. (Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com, May 8, 2024)